Olivinha and Gustavo De Conti share details of Flamengo's journey to the second World Cup in a press conference

An interview with the team's captain and coach was held on Thursday afternoon in Gávea; read the full interview

By Isabela Abirached - in 17/02/2022 às 15:36

The fantastic games that led FlaBasquete to its second world championship have already been witnessed by the nation. But the red-blacks were able to see all the paths taken by the team in preparation until the moment of lifting the trophy at the press conference held on Thursday afternoon (17), in the Rogerio Steinberg auditorium, at the Gávea headquarters.

Coach Gustavo De Conti and captain Olivinha, who was also world champion with Mais Querido in 2014, spoke in detail about their journey to the Intercontinental Cup, revealed the pride they feel in defending Flamengo and declared their support for the Nação Rubro-Negra.

Read the full answers below or click on the video to watch the FlaTV broadcast!

Olivinha, team captain:

"We had a major overhaul from last season to this one. We lost key players, but the coaching staff, along with the board, did a great job, signing quality players. The chemistry worked. We lost a few games, that's part of the process, but we have a lot of work to do to get back into the swing of things as quickly as possible. The team's chemistry came at the right time, for our main objective, which was the World Cup. These were two incredible games in which we gave our opponents no chance. Now we still have the Champions League and the NBB ahead of us, and we'll do everything we can to win both. We won the World Cup for the second time, but we're already thinking about the third! Starting tomorrow, we'll be back in training with everything we've got."

We knew it was the main objective of the season, and there were only two games. So we went in with a huge focus, also thanks to the great work of the coaching staff. I confess I didn't have much information about our opponents, and we received detailed videos from the coaching staff before the games, and we didn't give our opponents a chance. During the season, we had a few blackouts during games, and we didn't have any in these. This was our chance to make history.

"The quality is very similar from one team to the other. I don't see much difference between the 2014 and 2022 teams. Perhaps the difference in tournaments was playing at home in 2014, and now we're looking for players from Egypt. There are players who have played for the Brazilian national team, foreigners who have played for their own countries... I don't see much difference, personally."

"It gives me great pride to be writing this story with Flamengo. I'm a product of the club, I play for the biggest club in Brazil, which offers me the best infrastructure in Brazil. I'm from Rio, I play alongside my family and friends. For me, it's perfect. I'm driven by challenges, and each season those challenges are renewed. I really want to always be winning. Even though I'm 38 years old and have won practically everything with Flamengo, there's always that extra motivation, there's always something to be achieved. I work hard every day, and at the end of the season, the reward is immense. Winning a title with Flamengo is a huge impact. I'm the only athlete in Brazil to have won two World Cups playing for the same club. It's an honor, and I'm always very motivated. I still have a lot to achieve, and I'll have plenty of hard work."

"I work hard every day, I stay after training every day. Throughout my time here at Flamengo, my approach has been this: the more I work, the more successful I am. This year, I was one of our team's standouts, I was the top scorer, which shows the work I've been putting in every day. This recipe has undoubtedly been working in recent years."

"It's an honor for me (to be among the club's greatest). After this title, I received many messages, people praising me profusely. I'm incredibly proud of this recognition and the affection from the fans. I thank everyone, and it motivates me even more. We're on the right track. I'll let the fans decide where I stand among so many Flamengo idols. I don't like to talk about it; I like receiving the fans' affection. I leave it to them!"

- I'm a truly fanatical fan, and whenever I can, I'm at Maracanã supporting football. I'm definitely rooting for us to win this second World Cup.

On the day of the game, I played them a video of the 2019 Libertadores final. When I saw that video, I get goosebumps just talking about it. That game, the comeback at the end, the never-give-up, it gives me such energy... I shared that with the group, and we went into the game united, to "kill" the guys. From the start, we displayed tremendous intensity; the guys "didn't know where they were," and we overwhelmed them. I always say we have to go in with high energy, and our team's focus was incredible. Although I'm captain, I'm not the only leader on the team; our group is open to everyone's voice and opinions, always for the benefit of the group. We hope it continues that way until the end of the season.

"I'm proud to be part of Flamengo's magnificent history. I've been here in other phases of the club's history, and now we're here, winning title after title. Those who follow us see that basketball is growing at the club. You can follow us on social media; everyone is always sending messages wanting to know about the sport, and there's still plenty of room for growth."

"Our team has tremendous quality. Before the World Cup, it was almost never the same player who stood out in each game. Everyone has their moment. We knew it would be like this. I truly believe in the work we did, and everything worked out. We entered with the focus and attitude of a winning team. We knew we wanted to play and win. There's no player on the team whose ego gets the better of them. On our team, we play according to the game's demands."

"I'm very grateful to everyone who follows us, goes to the games, and supports us. We received a flood of messages on our social media before Egypt, telling us they believed in us. Know that these messages were incredibly important. I thank you for everything you do for us and for all the fans. When we're on the court, we kill for you, for the Red-Black Nation, who are always by our side. You can be sure that we will work hard to win every title we compete for."

Gustavo De Conti, technician:

- One of the things I heard most from people was the focus and concentration of the players. We played against very strong teams, and we didn't expect the most common words used the day after the victory to describe our performance to be "dominant" or "absolute." It was a huge difference (between Flamengo and our opponents), and this is largely due to our preparation, but mainly to the leadership of Olivinha, Balbi, and Faverani, who proved to be phenomenal in this regard during the World Cup. This focus and concentration were largely due to their self-work, with a little help from us, but mainly from them.

- Olivinha is almost my age (laughs). I started early as a coach, but I really wanted to be a player. I didn't make it as an athlete, but I wanted to continue in basketball and became a coach. I'm at the biggest club in Rio, Brazil, and now the world, right? I didn't just parachute here; I started at the youth academy. I try not to worry too much about that (name being mentioned in Europe and the NBA). My plan is to stay here (at Flamengo). I dreamed so much about being here, and now that I'm here, it's not time to think about going anywhere else. I'll leave those things for later; I want to stay here for a long time and hope to win many more titles with Flamengo.

I'd like to thank our board of directors, our vice president Guilherme Kroll, our director Marcelo Vido, our manager Diego Jeleilate, the Communications and Marketing team, and our sponsors—I'll name them: BRB, Tim, Pixbet, Moss, ABC da Construção, and the Rio de Janeiro State Government. The preparation wasn't easy; it was very tough and faced a lot of criticism. But the coaching staff and I were certain we had assembled an international team that struggles with different refereeing and the playing style of other teams. But they showed they are international players, and when we needed them in big matches, they delivered. As a coach, I was certain it would work in these international matches. Now we're going to play the NBB; tactically, some changes may be necessary. I won't say we used the NBB to train for the Intercontinental, because that would be demeaning to a competition that is very important to us, but perhaps we sacrificed the NBB a bit to be able to prepare the team for the Intercontinental matches. I also thank everyone who was involved in winning the Champions League, who made this world title possible. Everyone who was with us was very important and we are here because of them too.

Defeats are very important because sometimes we learn more from them than from victories. We never want to lose games, no offense to anyone, but our biggest challenge was the World Cup. Training and preparation could have been different for those games, but our focus was on the Intercontinental. Flamengo's board put on a show, they were patient, I received a lot of criticism (from outside) as a coach, but the board was very supportive of my way of thinking. All of these factors converged to make us world champions.

"I see that the jersey is completely taken up in all sponsorship spaces, and this shows the power that Flamengo has today. If someone wants to join, they'll have to negotiate with someone to leave. It wasn't always like this. I was talking to Bernardo, the Communications Director, and the club's basketball has just completed 100 years of uninterrupted play. Flamengo's basketball isn't just about now. We're in this moment of celebration after a long history. It's a long tradition; many people have passed through here, through difficult times, when there weren't many resources, there were salary issues. And basketball never ended. The foundations are very strong; there's a lot of history. We need to know the stories of everyone who passed through here and made basketball what it is today."

To maintain the desire to win, you need to understand a very long tradition. Who am I, having arrived three years ago, to be content with what we already have? Our vision (Gustavo and Flamengo's) converged when we arrived: this idea of transforming the club's basketball, of winning titles again. This slogan "Until the end," which we used this season, is something I hold dear, something that Olivinha holds dear. The day we're resigned, it's best to stop and do something else. We're in a team sport. If we're not eager to win, we're killing the dream of someone who's on our side.

"I didn't expect such dominance; I expected close matches, but we prepared incredibly well for this championship. Both logistically and technically and tactically. Sometimes we even forgo analyzing NBB teams to focus on Lakeland and Burgos. We knew everything about them. I brought in the entire Brooklyn Nets staff, where I worked in the Summer League, to help with this analysis, and I spoke with friends in Spain (to study Burgos)... It was a huge planning process. It seems like Paulo Sousa (the soccer coach) is very open to learning what's going on and exchanging ideas. I've already responded to his message and spoken with him. They (the soccer team) are in a very important week of preparation with the Super Cup final on Sunday, but we will, indeed, meet up later."

"It means so much to me, I can't even put it into words. When I was introduced, I climbed those steps (at the club's entrance) and saw the life-size photos of the players (from the world champion soccer and basketball teams). It's not a demand (laughs), but I kept imagining our photo there, my daughter putting her little face there... There's no price I could pay for coming home and seeing my daughter wearing the medal. Perhaps what made me most satisfied, besides the title, was seeing the players' autonomy. The coaching staff simply managed and took care not to get in their way. Their focus, their issues, I told Fernando (Pereira, assistant): "We just have to stay out of their way." In the NBB, the team was struggling a few times, but there, everything was fine. There are days I want to kill him, there are days he (Olivinha) wants to kill me, there are days I come home and argue with my wife about training, we argue with the board, the board argues with us (laughs), but of course, never on a personal level. But it's all worth it in the end and we often don't even remember all the sacrifices we made.

I don't usually talk much about individual players, but I think he deserves it. We played together at Paulistano before he went to the US. He was one of the first to be signed, after Hettsheimeir left. When I contacted him, he said he never imagined he'd come to Flamengo at his age and told me he would prepare. He didn't settle; he even sought out a private fitness coach, along with our own, Bruno (Nicolaci). He received a lot of criticism, which I think was unfair, all of it. And now he's marked in Flamengo's history. When I looked back and saw him crying, I thought, "We won!" (laughs). He's a reserved guy, so if he was already crying, it's because it was happening. (laughs). When he stops playing, I want to always have him around; he's, above all, a person who's worth having around.

"In both games, we were very organized; no one wanted to outdo the other, and everyone did their job very well. Everyone talks a lot about points, but I always give examples of players who are sometimes very important to us without scoring any points, like Mineiro and Jhonathan (Luz, former Flamengo player) last season. We gave a lot on defense; they (Burgos, our final opponent) only scored 62 points. Yesterday, they scored 104 against a team that had gone five games unbeaten. Diego (Jeleilate, basketball manager) came into a team talk one day and said to the players: "Let's take a little box and put all the bad things in it. Let's put it aside, put it in the hotel safe, and leave it there. At the end, we'll get it back." This sums up the mind-clearing we did: leaving our personal problems and egos aside and thinking, above all, collectively.

"When I decided to become a basketball coach, it wasn't for fame, and I confess I'm a bit averse to giving interviews or being recognized on the street. But here at Flamengo, I've learned that it's part of the process, and it's a privilege for that to happen. We can help many people, but even if we're a bit selfish, we can also receive a lot of affection. This support is wonderful, and it's a privilege for me to be here. I'm very fulfilled by this opportunity, and I have to make the most of being here at Flamengo. Every day I wake up, I feel obligated to give back. And the way I can do that is with titles and victories. And we'll always strive to give back."

Diego Jeleilate, basketball manager:

"I appreciate the support of the nation, the athletes, the board, FlaTV, and everyone who followed us in Egypt. The victory and the success are a source of pride, but most importantly, knowing that everything we've been striving for is deeply rewarded when we see the final product. We have a lot of exciting things ahead of us. Especially the athletes; they put on a show on the court."

Marcelo Vido, Executive Director of Olympic Sports:

Winning for Flamengo is different in every way. I had the pleasure of winning as an athlete for Sírio, but with Flamengo, it's unparalleled. The ball doesn't go into the basket by chance, and there's a lot of work behind it, from many people and different departments. Our medical department is crucial, especially during the pandemic we're still experiencing. The first game the team played this season was the World Cup final. We deserved this title. We were champions of the NBB, the BCLA, we deserved to be there in Egypt, and then, based on what we performed, we deserved the title, and it belongs to all of us.

Guilherme Kroll, Vice President of Olympic Sports:

There's so much to say, I'll try to summarize. Marcelo was very happy to mention the medical department. Faverani came to Flamengo to recover. He's back to playing intense basketball. He confides in me that there are days when he wants to kill Yago because he runs too much (laughs). But he managed to recover his reflexes, his mobility; the work done by CUIDAR is incredible. Jeleilate's work, the team's development, and the connection with Gustavo are also worthy of praise. Flamengo's discipline and organization impress athletes who come from places with even greater support for the sport. Marcelo Vido's work is unique; all the intelligence of Olympic sports is in his DNA, and that is clear and irrefutable. The sum of everything I've said is what made Flamengo a two-time world champion.