Wednesday, June 9, 2010

De Souza, Castro Marques Named to Brazilian National Team




After two years, Iziane will be back in the national colors.

New Brazil women's team head coach Carlos Colinas named the Brazilian women's national team, which will be convined to participate in the South American championship (August 8th through 14th) and in the FIBA World Championship (September 23rd through October 3rd). Among the players named to the team are Erika de Souza and Iziane Castro Marques. Don't worry Dream fans - both players say they won't take their place on the team until the end of the 2010 season for the Atlanta Dream.

Apparently, the news was released during a practice session and the other players started clapping. In May 2008, during the Olympic qualifying rounds Iziane had been benched early in the game by then-coach Paulo Bassul. She was called back on to the court in the fourth quarter and refused to leave the bench, ending her stint with the national team. Iziane had made it very clear that as long as Paulo Bassul was the coach, she wouldn't return. (Who says that only male basketball players can be divas?)

Final score: Castro Marques 1, Bassul 0. Eighteen players have been named as prospective players, and this group will be winnowed down before the start of serious play.

Let's hope that Brazil wins a...silver medal in the FIBA games. After all, I have to root, root root for my home country!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bassul is a great coach, maybe the best in Brazil. Shame on Izi.