The Argentine national team failed to book its ticket to the FIBA World Cup finals for the first time since 1982, losing to the Dominicans 75-79 in the American qualifiers for the nineteenth edition scheduled for Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
The Dominican Republic won, despite trailing by 17 points 12 minutes before the end of the match that was held in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata..
Argentina, champion of the first edition in 1950 at home, ranked fourth in Group E with 20 points, behind Venezuela (20), Dominican Republic (21) and Canada. (23).
The failure to qualify is considered a major setback for a country that finished the last edition in 2019 in China, runner-up to world champion Spain, as well as qualifying for the last nine editions..
“We didn’t play well,” said Argentina captain Facundo Campasso. “We weren’t good in attack, we had a lot of holes in defense and we didn’t succeed in stopping their main pillars. We really failed.”“.
In the African qualifiers, the modest Cape Verde team, led by Real Madrid giant Walter Tavares (2.20m), booked the last card for the continent, for the first time in its history, by defeating Ivory Coast 79-64..
In Europe, Georgia secured qualification for the first time despite losing at home to Iceland 80-77..
Belgium and Serbia are competing for the last 32nd card to qualify for the finals scheduled for the period from August 25 to September 10 next..
While the Philippines and Japan automatically qualify as hosts, Indonesia will miss out on the finals because they failed to meet the FIBA standard of reaching the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup..
Here are the eligible countries:
– Africa: Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Angola, South Sudan and Egypt.
– Asia: the Philippines, Japan, Iran, New Zealand, Australia, Lebanon, Jordan and China.
– The Americas: USA, Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
– Europe: Finland, Lithuania, Germany, Greece, Slovenia, France, Lithuania, Spain, Italy, Georgia and Montenegro.
