[閒聊] Nash for Inter?
http://sports.inquirer.net/111559/lakers-steve-nash-to-try-out-for-inter-milan
Lakers’ Steve Nash to try out for Inter Milan
Steve Nash believes Kobe Bryant is ahead of schedule in his recovery from
Achilles’ surgery, is hopeful that the Los Angeles Lakers will finally find
the chemistry they lacked a year ago and is finding himself fueled by the
memories of an injury-filled season.
On Tuesday, however, basketball won’t be his sport of choice.
The two-time NBA MVP gets to become a soccer player again – if only briefly.
The Lakers guard who grew up playing soccer and still has deep ties within
the sport will have a tryout of sorts with Inter Milan, before the storied
team opens play in the Guinness International Champions Cup tournament that’
s coming to the U.S. next week. The tournament features eight club teams from
around the world, with a winner to be crowned in Miami Gardens, Fla. on Aug.
7.
”It’s a dream come true to get a chance to try out, not just to try out but
to take the field with Inter Milan, one of the great, storied franchises in
professional sports,” Nash said in an interview with The Associated Press. ”
I feel like a little kid.”
Tournament officials said the tryout will take place in New Jersey, two days
before Inter Milan opens its portion of the Guinness event in Indianapolis
against Chelsea. And Nash expects to be feeling a fairly ramped-up level of
nervousness when he laces up his cleats for that training session.
”It’s going to be a lot higher than it is playing basketball, for sure,”
Nash said. ”I still get nervous for basketball games from time to time.
When I get out on the court, I don’t get nervous, but before. To go out
there with guys that I look up to and watch play, it’s definitely going to
raise the nerves. I’ll be really nervous and really excited.”
The tournament begins Saturday when AC Milan visits Valencia. Juventus and
Everton meet Wednesday in another first-round game, with the other opening
matchups being the Inter-Chelseagame and Real Madrid taking on the L.A.
Galaxy on Thursday.
The European clubs are primarily using the event as preseason training and
the matches will allow for many more substitutions than normal, as is common
with exhibition matches.
”Guinness has kind of taken it to another level by making a tournament out
of it,” Nash said. ”There’s stakes involved. For Guinness to bring seven
of the world’s biggest clubs over and play with the Galaxy, that’s
phenomenal exposure for the game and it’ll help grow the game in North
America.”
Nash played soccer and hockey as a child before starting his basketball
career as an eighth-grader, primarily because most of his friends at the time
were spending more time taking corner jumpers than corner kicks. His father,
John, played professional soccer in South Africa and England, and Nash
remains an avid soccer fan and is part of the ownership group for the
Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.
As far as his ”real job” goes, Nash said he’s encouraged for the coming
NBA season. He’s working his way back to being 100 percent physically. His
first season with the Lakers was an injury-filled one, where he was limited
to 50 games because of a broken left leg and a strained right hamstring.
”I’ve had a really good summer of training and rehabilitating,” Nash said.
”I’m not 100 percent, but I’m pretty close. Good enough to go out there
Tuesday. I’m thrilled I’ve had this time to build myself back up, and I
believe I’ll have a great year.”
Last season was a struggle for the Lakers, and the offseason hasn’t exactly
been tranquil, either. Dwight Howard left Los Angeles for Houston, Bryant has
been working his way through rehabilitation for his Achilles’, and the
Lakers added new pieces like Chris Kaman, Nick Young and Wesley Johnson.
”We’re all just excited for another opportunity,” Nash said. ”We’ve got
some terrific players coming off of difficult seasons. I know Pau Gasol after
his injuries, Kobe’s coming off a difficult injury, I was injured for the
better part of the season. The three of us are eager to get back out there
and there’s other guys, Jordan Hill, Steve Blake, who missed a lot of time
last year.
”We’re excited to see what we can make of ourselves. We really are going to
try for the second consecutive year to find chemistry and identity, but we’
re excited for it, so we’ll see.”
Nash said he isn’t letting go of the bad memories from last season, using
them instead as motivation for the coming year.
And when the new season starts, he said he wouldn’t be at all surprised to
see Bryant – who tore his Achilles’ tendon in April – not just ready, but
raring to go.
”I don’t think he’d have it any other way,” Nash said. ”I know he’s
very focused and determined and he plans to come back as strong as ever,
probably in record time.”
新的deep lying playmaker?
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 1.162.63.151
推
07/27 15:03, , 1F
07/27 15:03, 1F
推
07/28 10:16, , 2F
07/28 10:16, 2F
推
07/31 23:08, , 3F
07/31 23:08, 3F
Inter 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章