Syria Basketball Coach Salerno Happy with Win over Iran

The American was just as ecstatic as his team, who was already rushing the court to passionately celebrate its historic win, even if he didn’t express it in the same manner.

He knew what this victory meant. Even though he had joined the team not long ago, he was well aware how important it was to beat Iran. Not only for the players. 

"I’m just so happy for everybody in Syria," he said in the postgame press conference. "Really every person I’ve met there since I’ve been with the team has just been wonderful, so I’m just happy that I could help provide them with this win."

"I mean, Iran is a tremendous basketball team and it has been for a long time," said coach Salerno, fiba.basketball.com reported.

"For us to get this type of win, it has to come from this type of confidence. I look at Iran and they’re one of the top 25 teams in the world, so for us to come out and beat them proves that we can also be a great team.

“This win will carry on for us through the next window. We’ve shown ourselves, our players, our people at home who are in Syria that we can do this. We can accomplish this, so we’re just looking forward to here on out and we’re just looking forward to get better," he concluded.