The coach of the Argentine men’s national team, Guillermo Milano, qualified Los Gladiadores for their fourth Olympic participation. In London 2012 and Rio 2016 he was part of the coaching staff as assistant coach. In this edition, the main goal will be to advance to the next round. Milano, 51, is a native of Morón, province of Buenos Aires. He arrived at the Argentine national team when the Spaniard Manuel Cadenas left his post in December 2021, after leading the Albiceleste at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. 
Intense preparation
- How has been the preparation of the national team for these Olympic Games, do you prepare in the same way for a World Cup or any other international competition?
“The preparation was totally different, first because we had a month before the Games with the whole team in Europe. Usually, in the World Championships they arrive in the middle of the international competition with a shorter break, in this case there was more time, which gave us the possibility to plan better.”
- Does the technical staff have a special preparation to face a competition of this magnitude?
“For us it is the fourth Olympic Games, we are excited to do a good performance, we are aware of the difficult group we were assigned, here are the best. For us it is a pride to be part of this elite”.
- How many people make up the technical staff and what role does each one play?
“Gonzalo Carou is the second coach, he was captain of the national team and is the player with the most world championships in the history of our country. Carou spent 20 years playing in the Asobal League, he gives us a lot to the staff, and he dominates the defensive phase very well.”
“Guillermo Cazón is the physical trainer, he has been with us since the beginning of our process and is very good at communicating with the team, always generating different work alternatives”. “Carlos Marino joined the team in 2007, he is the team’s doctor and kinesiologist, he is a tireless worker who is constantly recovering the team”. “Juan Sebastián is our Manager, he comes from working with the Golden Generation of basketball, he has a lot of experience”.
Rivals and objectives
- With regard to Group B, which includes Norway, Hungary, Egypt, Denmark and France, how are you studying your opponents?
“We have a group of 8 members who work on the outside and provide us with statistics, video cuts for the goalkeepers, relevant actions of the most outstanding players. In addition, with Gonzalo Carou we prepare videos of the rivals and our own mistakes. We collect as much data as possible, then we analyze what we are going to show the players, we try not to leave anything to chance”.
- What is the target for Paris 2024 with respect to Tokyo 2020?
“To have a great Olympic Games, to improve our 10th place and to be competitive in every game. Being here is a source of pride for us, we arrived after one of the most difficult Pan American Games I have ever experienced. We beat Chile, which has been preparing for many years for this event (Santiago 2023) and Brazil in the Pan American final. Being here is the dream of our lives, we came here to leave everything in every action. Argentina started with a 31-36 defeat against Norway, the second date of Group B this Monday July 29 with Hungary at 16:00 Arg. time. 
Fixture (Arg. time):
7/31/07 Denmark vs Argentina 16.00H 2/08 Argentina vs France 6:00H 4/08 Egypt vs Argentina 6:00H
Photos: CoSCABal/Germán Paez and IHFBy: Martina Gallo.
