The North Americans dominate the history of the World Cups, but their record is far from extensive
He Basketball World Cup It is a competition that has usually been choked on the us team. The hegemonic team in world basketball since 1992 -the date when NBA talents were authorized to play- has not reached the level of excellence that they usually display at the Olympic Games.
Discover here the best guide for this Basketball World Cup.
What causes make Americans not shine so much in this competition? Based on the fact that in basketball, unlike soccer, the Olympic event has more importance than the world We can say that everything can start based on the motivation of the players to attend this event.
Habitually, the squads that the Americans present in the World Cups are ostensibly worse than that of the Olympic Games, although it is not the only cause. There is also the matter that the FIBA rules -which are more strictly respected in the World Cups- make many stars have reservations or disinterest in wanting to know them to compete.
So things, The United States presents a poor record having won just five golds in 18 disputed editions, while in the Olympic Games they have 16 titles in 20 editions, giving themselves the peculiarity that they have never lowered the podium in this competition. In the World Cups they have been left out of the drawer up to six times.
a promising story
The United States seemed to have everything on their side when the first World Cup was held in 1950. It was played on their continent, but was surprised by the host Argentina, who scored the first win with the ‘yankees’ as runners-up. In the next edition, in 1954, they achieved their first gold in Brazil implying that it could be the beginning of a hegemony given the strength of basketball in the country.
The Stars and Stripes team, however, started a tremendous drought that made him win his next World Cup in 1986, in Spain. The North Americans remained without winning during seven championships, although perhaps the most impressive thing was that they did not step on the podium in four editions.
FIBA, to introduce more competitiveness, established in 1978 that direct qualifying rounds would be played between teams instead of a group stage that served to determine the winner through the number of victories. This change returned the United States to the podium and victory in the Spanish championship, although it was not enough.
The revival and fall
In 1991, FIBA and the NBA reached a historic agreement whereby NBA players could compete in FIBA competitions, including the World Cups and the Olympic Games. The Americans got their act together the first year they were able to bring their best players crushing all his rivals in the 1994 World Cup held in Canada.
The lockout of the NBA in the summer of 1998 left FIBA without players from the best league in the world for that World Cup, although they played a worthy role, finishing third. The Federation tried to compensate for that by organizing the next World Cup in Indianapolis in one of the great shipwrecks in the history of American basketball finishing seventh and defeated even by Spain.
Things would not improve in 2006, despite the improvement in the squad, bringing in the best young stars in the League. They were eliminated in the semifinals by Greece in a memorable match that made them wake up for the future. After winning the following five major national team tournaments -Games, World Cup, Games, World Cup and Games-, The United States hit it again at the 2019 World Cup in China.
If there is a competition that is kryptonite for the United States, it is a World Cup where they are usually not capable of making the grade. We will see if this 2023 they return to the top, but the chances of failure are high and even more so seeing a roster that only has three All-Stars.