United States Faces Germany, Serbia Battles Canada in Semifinals of Basketball World Championship

The United States is the great favorite to enter the final of the Basketball World Championship, which is being played in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, in their semifinal duel against a Germany that seeks the ‘impossible’, while Serbia and Canada will live a matched and unprecedented ‘semi’ in which the Canadians will seek a historic pass to what would be their first World Cup final.

The two finalists will meet this Friday, after two semifinals full of surprises and unknowns. On the one hand, because Germany returns to the ‘Top 4’ despite not having big stars in their team and because they will now face a United States that, ‘warned’ by Lithuania, beat Italy in the quarterfinals with all the gear to stop.

In the other semifinal, the Canada that sent off Spain, among others -still current world champions until Sunday- eliminated the powerful Slovenia led by Luka Doncic and, in their best World Cup performance, did not want to be stopped by the surprising Serbia led by Svetislav pesic. There is, therefore, a lot at stake in both semi-finals.

The road to the final of the 2023 Basketball World Cup in Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. (dpa)

What each semifinalist has

The one who undoubtedly starts with the most favoritism is the United States. The team led by Steve Kerr will face Germany and they know that, as little as they press in defense and dismantle the German machinery, they will have a foot and a half in that final where they will try to recover their lost throne.

Winners of five World Cups, the last one in 2014 in Spain, the Americans arrived at this World Championship without big flashy stars, without a ‘Dream Team’, but even so they continue to be the main candidates for the title, led by the Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (17.3 points per game).

Of course, Germany is in the semifinals for the first time since 2002 and is undefeated in this World Cup. The Germans, yes, suffered a lot to eliminate Latvia (81-79) in the quarterfinals, in a duel where their great figure, point guard Dennis Schroder, was more than thick, with 4/26 shooting.

On the other hand, the Canada of the Spanish coach Jordi Fernández will face off against the powerful Serbia of Pesic. Nice bench duel between a young coach who rises like the foam in order to have a franchise in the NBA and a veteran coach, nicknamed ‘grandfather’ with affection in Barcelona.

However, the pass to the final will be more on the track. In it, Serbia and Canada will fight to get into their first World Cup final, in terms of the North Americans, and to return to it -after nine years of absence- in the case of the Serbs.

Can Serbia’s defense and speed contain MVP Shai? ????#FIBAWC

— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 ???? (@FIBAWC) September 7, 2023

Undoubtedly, the most vibrant duel will be between the great Canadian star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, against Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Serbian beacon in this Championship. Bogdanovic is averaging 18.8 points with 4.8 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals, while Gilgeous-Alexander is pretty much everything for Canada (25 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.7 steals). per game).

2023-09-07 17:06:23
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