The last qualified for the second round of the World Cup are known. During the last day of the group stage this Wednesday, Greece, Puerto Rico and Georgia notably validated their ticket for the next round, unlike others such as South Sudan and Cape Verde who will have to be content classification matches.
Greece is scared
Greece played with fire. Opposed to New Zealand in a match where the winner qualified for the second round, the players of Dimitris Itoudis struggled for three quarters, counting up to fourteen points behind before the break. The Greeks finally managed to catch up and go ahead in the last quarter, guided by a Ioannis Papapetrou in great shape (24 points), to win (83-74)
Thanks to this success, Greece secured their place in the second round, finishing second in Group C behind the United States, easy winners of Jordan earlier in the day (110-62). They will find in the next round Lithuania and Montenegro, first and second in group C.
End of the dream for South Sudan
For its first World Cup, South Sudan did not qualify for the second round. Against Serbia, and there was almost no suspense, the Serbs having led throughout the meeting and already had a ten-point lead at the end of the first quarter. What followed was a formality for Bogdan Bogdanovic (23 points, 9 assists) and his teammates, the gap constantly increasing to over thirty points (115-83).
First in group B, Serbia will be accompanied in the second round by Puerto Rico, winner without trembling against China (107-89). Tremont Waters, a former Mets 92 player, finished as the game’s top scorer against the Chinese who couldn’t really count on Kyle Anderson – Li Kaier by his Chinese name -, who scored nine points in 31 minutes.
In the next round, Serbia and Puerto Rico will meet the Dominican Republic and Italy, the two teams qualified in Group A.
Doncic easy, Georgia qualified
Slovenia took time to break away, but Luka Doncic’s partners (19 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists) finally beat Cape Verde (92-77). The score was tight until the start of the third quarter, with the two teams still tied, before the Slovenians rolled a 14-5 past their opponents to break away.
Already qualified before this match, Slovenia finished first in a group F where Georgia took second place with their victory against Venezuela (70-59). Tornike Shengelia was decisive (25 points) in a meeting where the two teams were clumsy at 3 points (5/23 for Georgia, 6/25 for Venezuela).
In the second round, Slovenia and Georgia will cross paths with Germany and Australia, first and second in Group E.
Spain took its time
It was sluggish, but Spain imposed itself well against Iran for its last match of the first round (85-65). Led by one point at the end of the first quarter, the Spaniards slowly broke away to secure a victory allowing them to remain undefeated before finding Canada and Latvia in the next round.
Brazil is the last to qualify from group G following its success against Côte d’Ivoire (89-77), a team that France will face in the classification matches.
2023-08-30 15:20:26
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