The reigning world champions defend their title in a more than affordable first phase against Iran, the Ivory Coast and Brazil.
He Basketball World Cup FIBA starts this friday and Spain is very confident in being able to renew the title they won in 2019. The red team also appears in this event as defending champion of Europe, being for many a constant reference in the good results achieved during this 21st century. Not surprisingly, we are number 1 in the world ranking.
Discover here the best guide for this Basketball World Cup.
FIBA – the International Basketball Federation – decided to expand the World Cup to 32 teams in China 2019 giving way to a format of eight groups of four teams each. Spainas the first seed, has had a more than affordable raffle avoiding European rivals, who could have qualified as 11 more teams from this continent had qualified.
People may think that the level is low, but it is no less true that Spain has had some luck in pairings. Proof of the existing requirement is the absence of the current world runner-up Argentina, who was unable to qualify due to the high demand of the American continent with seven places.
The group, in detail
One of the teams took it away was precisely Brazil, perhaps the most fearsome rival for Spain in history after having won two titles at the beginning of this type of championship. The ‘Canarinha’however, he is a shadow of his former self having watched his golden generation packed with NBA players retire in recent years. Not surprisingly, right now they have no representative in the American competition.
The cariocas are followed by a team like Ivory Coast. the african team a first round of a World Cup has never passed their best result being a thirteenth place in 1982. The tricolor team was one of the surprises for many when they got a place in the unstable African continent, where there has been no clear dominator for a long time.
Iran -with whom Spain already shared a group in 2019 and which they beat 73-65- completes this group by being another ‘sweet expert’. Asians will play their fourth consecutive World Cup and they have the challenge of getting past the first round for the first time. The Persian team could be the surprise if Brazil does not measure up.
The hard part comes later
Spain will take these matches as a preparation for the actual competition that begins at the crossover of the playoffs. Predictably, by ranking and by names, France and Canada will await us, two clear contenders for a medal given the names they use.
In fact, the Frenchmen have been on the podium in the last two World Cups, harvesting two bronzes and they seek with a more than experienced generation to put the icing on the cake. The team has multiple players who are starters in the NBA and who, by weight, can surpass ours. Their problem, perhaps, can reside in a conjunction as a team that has failed them on some occasions.
CanadaFor his part, he has history against him with a sixth place in 1978 and 1982 as the best position. On this occasion, have managed to convince three titleholders of the nba -one of them all star– to try to get the best result in their history. Spain will have to work hard against a team that defeated them in preparation for the event.
If the current European and world champions pass these obstacles, they will reach the quarterfinals and speculating with rivals from this phase on will become more complicated. The conclusion is clear: child’s play in the group stage and a duel of the titans in the second phase.