Basketball, World Cup Qualifiers: Italy-Netherlands LIVE live

Nicola Akele closes as top scorer with 18 points. Double figures also Stefano Tonut (13 points and 6 assists) and for Amedeo Tessitori (13 + 4 rebounds). Mattia Udom, making his absolute debut in blue, closes with 5 points and 4 rebounds in 21 minutes from the bench.

Italy celebrates its first success in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup and moves the ranking, which now sees it paired in second place with Iceland, behind Russia. The Netherlands remain on the bottom, with a 0-2 record. Iceland will be the next opponent of Italbasket: double confrontation in the window of February 2022.

75-73 FINAL RESULT – The Netherlands still have two fouls to spend. Italy can steal precious seconds on the stopwatch. At the third foul and bonus exhausted, line for Michele Vitali half a second from the siren: 1/2 and blue victory for 75-73.

74-73 5 “from the siren – Crazy ending. Lost by Pajola, then recovered by Vitali. Tonut misses the victory basket in penetration, and the Netherlands remain attacked with De Jong. Time-out called by coach Sacchetti at 5 “from the siren with a point of advantage.

74-71 al 39′ – A triple from Tonut restores enthusiasm to the Forum and an advantage to the Azzurri. Coach Buscaglia stops the game calling time-out. Upon returning, Pajola’s recovery and +5 signed by Akele with an offensive rebound after a mistake by Tonut in penetration. De Jong shortens back to -3 on entry.

69-69 al 38′ – Overtaking Holland with Van der Vuurst and blue hookup with Akele. The ending will be hell!

67-67 al 36′ – A great triple from Vitali’s dribble blows up the Forum. But Schaftenaar is a torment on deep receptions against the changes: two baskets in a row and it is a tie at 67.

64-63 al 34′ – Hammink’s third triple in a row brings the Netherlands back to -2 and forces coach Sacchetti to time out. Upon returning, a friend of Gaspardo’s tables returns some oxygen to the Azzurri, but is soon absorbed by a Schaftenaar and-one.

62-57 al 32′ – Italy opens the last period with a winning tap-in from Tessitori. But once again the Netherlands closed the gap with two consecutive triples by Hammink.

60-50 END OF THE THIRD QUARTER – Italy regains confidence with two consecutive triples scored by Tonut and Tessitori. The presence of Tessitori himself in the defensive metacampo is also excellent, with weight in the area, rebounding presence and great ability to hold up even on changes.

54-48 al 28′ – Oxygen for Italy with two free Tessitori. Then finally comes the first field goal of the third quarter after more than seven minutes, signed by Akele.

50-43 al 26′ – Still enormous offensive difficulties for Italy, always without field baskets in this second half. Only one free to score for Tonut, but the defense always keeps the Netherlands at the post.

49-43 al 24′ – Italy unlocks after three minutes with Tonut in the line. The Netherlands got closer with a triple from Schaftenaar’s corner and a free from De Jong.

47-39 al 22′ – Beginning of the third period flooded for both teams. The Azzurri defense holds and keeps the Netherlands at zero in the first two minutes.

47-39 START THIRD FOURTH – Italy returns to the field with Pajola, Tonut, Vitali, Akele and Udom, who replaces Tessitori due to the problems of fouls that hit him in the first half (already 3).

NETHERLANDS STATISTICS – The Oranje are shooting 8/18 from twos (44%) and 6/11 from threes (55%), but they pay 10 turnovers. Charlof Kloof is the top scorer with 9 points, followed by De Jong and Hamming (8), Franke (6), Kherrazi, Schaftenaar, Van der Vuurst and Van Zegeren (2).

STATISTICS ITALY – The Azzurri are shooting 14/23 from two (61%) and 4/11 from three (36%). Nicola Akele is top scorer at 12 points, followed by Pajola (7), Flaccadori and Tessitori (6), Udom (5), Tonut and Diouf (4), Vitali (3).

47-39 END SECOND FOURTH – The problems of fouls in the front-court worsen: third also for Diouf. Holland returns up to -5, is rejected by a good penetration by Flaccadori and a triple by Vitali’s striker, but then again tinkers in the final with De Jong in the line.

42-34 al 18′ – Tessitori scores his sixth point but, in the next action, spends his third foul on an irregular block. Diouf is back, immediately on target from the line, but the Netherlands replies to the attempt to reach the blue with an outburst of five consecutive points from Kloof that lead coach Sacchetti to time-out.

38-29 al 16′ – A splendid counterattack by Tonut and Akele brings the Azzurri back to +9 and forces coach Buscaglia to call the second time-out. Upon returning, Italy exceeds the double figure margin with a canestrone by Tonut in penetration. The Netherlands hinted at an all-out press defense, but the Azzurri easily beat it with Tonut and Tessitori.

32-25 al 14′ – Holland mended up to -1 with Hammink, but two triples by Udom and Tonut restore oxygen to Italy after a long empty pass. Then again Udom scores from the line, while Pajola’s defense returns to bite hard on the ball.

24-20 al 12′ – Italy loses compactness with the rotations from the bench. Holland gets closer up to -2, then Pajola restores two possessions away with a nice basket unscrewed from the half corner.

22-18 END OF FIRST FOURTH – Problems with fouls for the blue front-court: two each for Tessitori and Diouf. Flaccadori is exalted with a couple of penetrations to the iron, but the Netherlands remains in the wake with a triple from Franke and a crazy canestrone from midfield on the siren of the first quarter of Shane Hammink.

18-10 all’8′ – First points also Diouf from the bench, then a couple of trivial turnovers that show a chemistry that is still (obviously) not very oiled. Then unsportsmanlike foul on Akele, administered with a 2/2 in the line. The blue debut for Mattia Udom also arrives.

14-5 al 6′ – Italy continues to keep its hands on the helm of the match. Weavers hits in paint, then Pajola’s force-one in penetration.

9-5 al 4′ – The Azzurri defense forces three consecutive recoveries: the break is extended with a jumper from Pajola from the middle distance and a triple from Akele from the corner. Time-out for coach Buscaglia on the Oranje bench.

4-3 al 2′ – The Netherlands opened the game by committing three fouls in thirty seconds. Italy unlocks with Akele on Tessitori’s assist, then Tex again on a dunk after a great lift by Vitali.

0-0 START OF THE RACE – The first possession is managed by Italy.

The starting-five chosen by coach Meo Sacchetti: Alessandro Pajola, Stefano Tonut, Michele Vitali, Nicola Akele and Amedeo Tessitori.

The head coach of the national team Oranje is Maurizio Buscaglia, seen for a long time in Serie A between Trento, Reggio Emilia and Brescia. The most representative players are Charlon Kloof e Yannick Franke. The latter also played in Trento under coach Buscaglia.

The precedents between Italy and the Netherlands are 27. The record is clearly in favor of the Italian national team (25-2), but one of the two Oranje victories is very recent. On 1 July 2018, in the qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup, the Netherlands won 81-66, giving Italy one of the worst defeats in the Sacchetti management.

It is about the absolute debuts in the national team for Bruno Mascolo and Mattia Udom, while captain Michele Vitali, out in St. Petersburg because he is not in perfect physical condition, has recovered and is available for today’s match.

These are the 12 players chosen by coach Meo Sacchetti for tonight’s match: Leo Candi, Stefano Tonut, Diego Flaccadori, Bruno Mascolo, Amedeo Tessitori, Raphael Gaspardo, Mattia Udom, Michele Vitali, Mouhamet Diouf, Davide Alviti, Nicola Akele and Alessandro Pajola. Matteo Spanish, Giordano Bortolani, Gabriele Procida and Alessandro Lever remain out of age.

Russia then overtook Iceland with a clear 89-65 and lead the group with full points. The Netherlands, on the other hand, come from a knockout in a sprint against Iceland (77-79). This, then, is the ranking on the eve of the second day: Russia 2-0, Iceland 1-1, Netherlands 0-1, Italy 0-1. You play to get out of the last place in the group.

Friends of Eurosport, a greeting from Daniele Fantini and welcome back to our appointment with the LIVE-Blogging of Italy-Netherlands, second race of the first window for the 2023 World Cup qualifiers!