“Careful optimist” before starting
Posted by Arild Sandven
&ball;November 24, 2021
National team manager Mathias Eckhoff welcomed Harald Frey’s progress in Spanish basketball and looks forward to the European Championship qualifier start against Kosovo. But he is unsure of how good the reviews are – and what Norway will look like in the debut match.
– I’m cautiously optimistic, but it’s impossible to know so much because we have not been out and wasted matches. All team sports are about games and counter-games, we have to go out and match and see how it is and how players handle this, says Eckhoff.
National team coach and assistant Audun Eskeland will have his second training on Tuesday on the finished parquet floor in Haukelandshallen, and then the Norwegian squad will be cut from 14 to 12 players – that you have to go out.
Certainly the 12 will consist of eight players from the domestic Firi league and four who are out in Europe:
Harald Eika Frey (Oviedo) and Karamo Jawara (Girona) in Spain, Chris-Ebou Ndow (Boulazac) in France, Bouna Black Ndiaye (Thor Akureyri) in Iceland.
– Has blossomed and stood out
Frey will be the engine of the team and coach Eckhoff is impressed with what he has put off the 24-year-old in training and on stream from Oviedo’s matches in LEB Oro, level to in Spain.
There, the Kjelsås boy has an average of 17.7 points per. match after a strong start to the season.
– Harald has been very good, taken a real step up and is one of the leading scorers in LEB Oro, a league that is not scored that much in. He has flourished, stood out as a leader and understood who he must be in that league , says the national team manager.
He is a little more reserved in the mention of Karamo Jawara, who with his experience and his 204 cm becomes an important man for Norway.
– Karamo has been out with safe trouble for a very long time and just had to train and one match after that, so he comes in a little cautiously. But he plays at a high level, says Eckhoff about the 30-year-old, who now has Marc Gasol (36) as a teammate in Girona, in the same league as Harald Eika Frey and Liberbank Oviedo.
Kosovo number 70, Norway 89
Norway has joined forces with Denmark and Kosovo in the pre-qualification for the European Championships in 2025, where the group winners and the best of three group runners-up advance to the qualification itself. A double series is played where the Norwegian team has away matches against Denmark and Kosovo on 24 and 27 February next year and the final home match against the Danes, 2 July.
Denmark is the top seed in Norway’s group and number 55 among the 164 teams in the FIBA ranking, which was released on 9 August. Here, Kosovo is in 70th place and Norway in 89th place.
– We have people who have played out before, with international matches and Universiade teams, so we are not completely blank. We have the intensity and the will, assures Mathias Eckhoff.
– Testimony of seriousness
He is looking forward to getting started in qualifying.
– This is the starting shot for a conscious strategy from the association and testifies to seriousness. A desire to achieve something and be taken seriously. As a basketball association, you must have a national team that has the conditions to compete on an equal footing with other national teams.
– The players are motivated, looking forward to playing international matches on Norwegian soil again and hopefully it is a great inspiration that the association pulls this in motion, Eckhoff emphasizes.
Norway has won against several good basketball nations in the Universiade for U24 national teams.
– We have not been so half-hearted, even though we were not as good in the previous Universiade in Naples in 2019. The difference between us and Kosovo is that they have played international matches in recent years and been in qualifiers, while we do not, says national team coaches.
“Triggerhappy” guard star
In the pre-qualification for the World Cup 2023, Kosovo came last in their four-team group, but won two matches (2-4), among them the first: 80-78 at home in Pristina against group winner Iceland, in February last year.
Iceland comfortably won 86-62 when the teams met again on a neutral field in Bratislava (Slovakia) in November.
Kosovo’s most famous player is 1.91 m tall Dardan Berisha, a marksman.
The 33-year-old was born in Peja, Kosovo, but acquired Polish citizenship and played for Poland in the European Championship finals in 2011, with an average of 13.2 points.
After FIBA recognized and took up Kosovo as a member in 2015, Berisha has represented the country of birth. He has previously played for Polonia Warszawa, Cibona Zagreb, Italian Juvecaserta and Czech Nymburk, among others, but is now back in Kosovo and plays for his hometown team, KB Peja.
– A dynamic and “shameless gunner” to the extent that he fired 30 percent of their shots in the two qualifiers against Iceland. He may well be called triggerhappy, but it’s still not okay for us to shoot. They have regardless of quality and beat Iceland in the first match in the World Cup qualifiers, Eckhoff reminds.
The guests also have the course’s tallest players: 18-year-old Dion Sheqiri who measures 2.08 m and veteran Fisnik Rugova (33) who is 2.07.
NORWEGIAN TROP
Norway’s 14 players for the European Championship qualifier against Kosovo in Haukelandshallen on Thursday.
* Harald Eika Frey, Oviedo (Spain) – 24 – 1.85
* Karamo Jawara, Girona (Spain) – 30 – 2.03
* Chris-Ebou Ndow, Boulazac (France) – 27 – 1.97
* Bouna Black Ndiaye, Thor Akureyri (Ø) – 29 – 1.97
* Lars Fredrik Espe, Gimle – 23 – 1.86
* Espen Fjærestad, Gimle – 27 – 1.94
* Mikkel Kolstad, Gimle – 26 – 1.90
* Eivind Lamo, Gimle – 25 – 1.99
* Jørgen Odfjell, Gimle – 21 – 1.98
* Sjur Dyb Berg, Bærum – 25 – 1.99
* Stian Mjøs, Bærum – 32 – 1.83
* Johannes Dolven, Centrum – 25 – 2,02
* Nikolas Skouen, Fyllingen – 31 – 1.93
* Torgrim Sommerfeldt, Kongsberg – 32 – 1.98