Now on European lands, Leo Gutiérrez’s team is completing the final stretch of preparation for the international competition to be held in Malaga. The debut will be on Saturday morning against Egypt.
Countdown for the U17 Men’s National Team ahead of the category World Cup, which will be held from July 2 to 10 in Malaga. Settled in European lands, the Argentine delegation finalizes details of the preparation for the debut next Saturday. For that, he toured France where he played two friendlies against the host, one of the powerhouses at the training level that starts as a favorite in Malaga.
After the extensive set-up in La Banda, Argentina confirmed its squad and left for Europe. The first destination was Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, in the northeast of France, to play two friendlies. The first presentation was on Saturday afternoon, where the boys fell 89-59 with 11 points from Tiago Drocezeski and 9 from Lucas Giovannetti. The next day, it was again a French victory by 105-38.
With the U17 World Cup just around the corner, Argentina will now set course for Malaga. There they will integrate Group D, along with Australia, Egypt and Poland. The first comes from consecrating champion of the Asian tournament last week and starts as another of the favorites of the contest. Egypt, meanwhile, was the host and champion of the FIBA Africa U16, played last year in Cairo. Poland, meanwhile, achieved classification through the U16 European Challengers, a qualifying format by venue and different from the usual, but which had to be played that way for health reasons.
The long-awaited debut will be next Saturday at 10:30 a.m., Argentine time, against Egypt. After a three-match group stage, all teams advance to the round of 16, where the knockout stage kicks off. Argentina will try to finish as high as possible in their zone and then cross with one of the members of Group C, made up of the United States, Mali, Slovenia and Lebanon. All matches can be seen live on FIBA’s YouTube channel.
It is worth remembering that, at the last moment, the national squad had to make a change due to injury. Tomás Fernández Lang suffered an injury to his adductor and his place was taken by Tiziano Prome.
SCHEDULE (Argentine time)
Saturday 02/07
10:30 a.m. – Argentina vs. Egypt
Domingo 03/07
10.30hs – Polonia vs Argentina
Monday 07/04
Day of rest
Mars 07/05
08.00hs – Australia vs Argentina
Wednesday 06/07
Round of 16
Photo: Kindness of Vosges Basketball Committee
