It’s a list of 12… plus one. The national basketball coach, Sergio Scarillo, announced the players who will attend the World Cup that will be held from next Friday 25 to Sunday 10 September in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, in which the Spanish national team will defend its current championship. The final call-up depends on doubt, which is that of Malaga point guard Alberto Diaz, who was injured in last Thursday’s game against Canada. Diaz suffers from excessive strain in his left knee and will pass another test this Sunday to see if he can attend the tournament. Otherwise, his place will be taken by Jaime Fernandez.
The rest of the team consists of point guards Juan Nunez, shooting guards Dario Brizuela and Sergio Lull, forwards Rudy Fernandez, Alex Abrinz, Victor Claver and Joel Parra, forwards Juancho Hernangomez and Santi Aldama, and quarterbacks Willy Hernangomez and Osman. . Alberto Abalde, Sebas Saez, and Jaime Pradilla are the safe returns. The team will attend the tournament with seven players who won the gold medal last summer in Berlin.
Alberto Diaz joined this team at the last minute due to Llull’s injury, and after being one of Scarillo’s former returns during the prep round. The red-haired guard ended up being crucial due to his defensive dedication. Now, his post is back over the wire.
The goalkeeper position has been Sergio Scarillo’s biggest headache in the World Cup preparations. The loss to Lorenzo Brown due to injury was joined by a bye to Ricky Rubio due to a mental health issue. Spain was left without a captain for both teams and coach Juan Nunez, 19, from Ratofarm Ulm of the Bundesliga, was recalled as an emergency solution. On Saturday, Núñez was precisely Spain’s top scorer in the final warm-up match before the World Cup, an 86-77 victory over the Dominican Republic in Granada. Garuba added eight rebounds and seven assists. With this, the team ended its squad after also beating Venezuela and Slovenia, and losing to the United States and Canada, specifically the two teams that the International Basketball Federation ranks as the biggest candidates for the World Cup. The indoor game, with Garuba, Aldama and the Hernangómez brothers, is presented as one of the great strengths of the Scarillo group, which has dispensed with Saez and Bradella, the European Basketball Champion, in those positions.
Spain flies to Jakarta (Indonesia) on Tuesday, where it will play the first stage of the World Cup, which will be played in a tie in Group G. Its first match will be on Saturday the 26th at 3:30 pm (Spanish Peninsular time) against Ivory Coast. . The same schedule is repeated on Monday 28th against Brazil and on Wednesday 30th against Iran to complete the group stage in which the first two teams qualify for the next round. The first and second in Group G will play that second stage against the first and second in Group H (France, Canada, Latvia and Lebanon), also in Jakarta. In that other group of four, Spain will not play against the team against which it has already been measured in the first stage (eg, Brazil), but only against the two teams from the other group (eg, France and Canada), and they score victories and defeats. initial encounters. The first two from this second group are those who qualified for the quarter-finals, already in Manila (Philippines).
In crosses between the world’s eight best players, Spain will have in their path a selection of the eight from Groups E and H, who play in Okinawa (Groups A, B, C and D do so in Manila). On the selection horizon, if it continues to progress, Slovenia, Germany, Australia, Finland … The United States will walk through the other part of the World Cup table at least until the semifinals.
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