Cairo - The coach of Petro de Luanda, José Neto, said it was to the credit of Zamalek to win the game because they countered his team, which could get another result if it took better advantage of the outside game.
Speaking on Friday night after the defeat, by 72-85, in a match of the fifth round of the African Basketball League, played at the Hassan Mustafa Hall Pavilion, he said that not beating the Egyptians in the qualifying round does not take away the team's objective.
In a press conference, José Neto said that Zamalek's score in the games has been very high, but the issue is not that Petro has defended badly, but because the opponents have studied his team's strategies well.
The coach acknowledged defensive flaws well taken advantage of by the opponents, but denied the hypothesis of anxiety within the players for the experience they have.
He admitted that the team still needs to improve in some aspects, but that the attention is already turned to tonight's match against Et Police of Cameroon.
In his turn, Carlos Morais defended the need to approach every game in a more aggressive way in order to avoid surprises, like the defeat against Zamalek, but without compromising the objectives of winning the African competition.
He also said, he is sure that today, Saturday, starting at 7h30 pm , against Et Police of Cameroon, the collective posture will be different to continue winning games in this Nile conference.
For the team captain, it is better to lose now than in the final phase next May in Rwanda, acknowledging, however, that the percentage of the outside game was bad.
With this defeat, Petro continue with four points, two less than Zamalek and Cape Town of South Africa. The latter, who have one more game to play, beat Cobra Sport Club of South Sudan, on Friday, by 83-79.
This competition is played in a system of all against all in one round and qualifies the first four teams for the final, to be played in May, where there are already the qualifiers of the Sahara Conference held in Senegal.
