Repeša: If I could choose, I would never be born in Balcan area

Croatia NT coach Jasmin Repeša was furious after the shocking defeat from Senegal in the third game of the FIBA World Cup:

"Senegal deserved this win 100%. They controlled this game even when we got close a couple of times."

He talked about Balcanic mentality, as players from that area often tend to take weaker opponents for granted:

"It might sound crazy, but it's true, if I could choose, I would never be born in Balcan area. I'm sorry I have to say that, but we suffered from that mentality in the past. It's unacceptable to only have 2 fauls in the first quarter when you're suffering from offensive rebounds. If you play with fire you get burned sooner or later. We complicated our lives a little bit, but the final result still depends on us. I still believe we can go far in this tournament."

Lastly, he talked about Bojan Bogdanović starting the game on the bench:

"Bojan accepted my thinking on tournament style of play, which means spreading the energy for future games. He accepted that really and I see no problem in that."

Croatia has as rest day tomorrow, and will take on Greece on Wednesday.

Written by Hrvoje Vujanic