The eNational team passed the first phase of the eFIBA season 4 in a “beautiful evening of eBasketball, of hard-fought matches that allowed the team to gain a lot of experience in matches that also count in terms of the upcoming qualifiers” in the words of former Italian player Andrea Pecile. Italy qualifies for the second phase with Türkiye, Poland and Israel. Finland, on the other hand, goes to the play-offs. In short, Italy passes the most difficult group, characterized by a great balance between the teams.
It is played with the Sumof2 formula, where, in two matches, the sum of baskets is worth the sum. Italy wins two matches and loses another two, in practice they win the match against Turkey 127-121, the reigning European champion team and first in the standings, but then lose the match against Poland by just one point, speaking of balance, last in the standings up to that moment.
The defeat against Polonia prevents Italy from finishing first, with full points, in the group: “It’s a shame to have wasted the chance to go first – captain Ilyass Kamal comments a little bitterly and adds determination – in any case we will work hard this month to fix the mistakes and to be ready for the next phase”. We are certain of it.
Italy’s matches were broadcast on the Italbasket Twitch channel, where they are available on demand, with the hosts Fabrizio “El Bicio” Antinori and Giovanni “SweetChin” Musig, Simone “Akira” Trimarchi and the ex-Italian Andrea Pecile. The ratings were almost record-breaking with 910 unique users (more than 654 compared to the first day, with the peak of 258 in game 2 against Turkey) with 2158 total views (more than 1700 compared to the first day of competition).
The next eNational matches will be played from 2 to 5 March for the European qualifiers and, possibly, on 7-8 March for the Finals.
Italy-Türkiye 127-121
Italy-Türkiye 68-59 (11-14; 29-26; 51-41)
Italy. Ilyass Kamal – IlySZN 34, Stefano Vizzini – VIIZZOO 10, Filippo Speziali – xpipotato 10, Lorenzo Nart – sleezirrr 8, Andrea Falasca – JustFala 6.
Türkiye-Italy 62-59 (9-10; 25-26; 44-39)
Italy. Ilyass Kamal – IlySZN 18, Stefano Vizzini – VIIZZOO 15, Filippo Speziali – xpipotato 6, Lorenzo Nart – sleezirrr 6, Andrea Falasca – JustFala 14.
Italy-Poland 107-108
Italy-Poland 58-57 (17-13; 33-24; 44-47)
Italy. Ilyass Kamal – IlySZN 22, Stefano Vizzini – VIIZZOO 17, Filippo Speziali – xpipotato, Lorenzo Nart – sleezirrr 5, Andrea Falasca – JustFala 14.
Poland-Italy 51-49 (15-13; 25-20; 42-37)
Italy. Ilyass Kamal – IlySZN 10, Stefano Vizzini – VIIZZOO 19, Filippo Speziali – xpipotato, Lorenzo Nart – sleezirrr 3, Andrea Falasca – JustFala 17.
The other matches in group A
Israel-Poland 163-109 (70-57; 93-52)
Türkiye-Finland 125-111 (56-60; 69-51)
The standings of Group A
Türkiye 7
Italia 7
Poland 6
Israel 5
Finland 5 (play-offs)
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