The heart of Joaquim Gomes beats again as team Angola tasted victory against Australia on the latest match of FIBA Basketball World Cup. The 33-year-old veteran can't pinky swear that he will return to the limelight after Spain 2014; there's a good chance of retirement. He is now looking forward to see if Korea can turn down Mexico and deliver the Angolans to the knockout rounds.

The FIBA.com staff had a chit chat with Gomes after the game.

He delightfully expressed: "Too bad we didn't get a win yesterday but we got it today and that's very important to finish strong. I think every game we've played so far we've sent a very good message. Today we came out very strong, we came out and played the way we should be playing. The most important thing is we got the win, so let's wait and see what is going to happen between Mexico and Korea."

When asked about the team's effort after the defeat against Mexico, he explained: "I hate losing, to be honest, I hate losing. I can't say too much because we played very well against Lithuania and Slovenia, we fought to the end but only one team could win and we didn't get it."

"It has been fun, I've been enjoying playing this tournament, but if we don't advance it will definitely be very hard for me, very hard for the team because we are used to going to the other phase. But this is how the game goes, you can't always win," FIBA.com asked how much it would mean him to get one last crack at the World Cup elimination round in the Angolan jersey.

Then he reminisced," I remember the first time I played in the World Cup, it was in Indianapolis in 2002 and it was against Spain that we had a very good game, we beat Canada, we beat China with Yao Ming. In Japan as well, the best memory was against Germany, we lost that game but we went to three overtimes, it was the first time I have played three overtimes and it was fun."

As he blinked his eyes going back to the present, he said: "They still have to work a lot but we definitely have a future, as you saw today with Yanick Moreira and some other young guys. They have to improve a lot, they have to grow, but we have the potential because in Angola there is a big love for this game. I think if we work hard we will keep winning games in African and here in Europe."

(Source: FIBA official website)