On the 28th Beijing time, the FIBA Basketball World Cup continued. The Chinese men's basketball team welcomes its second opponent in the group stage, South Sudan. After the battle, the Chinese men's basketball team lost 69:89, losing this key battle that may directly affect the ownership of the right to participate in the Paris Olympics.
In the first group game played on the 26th, the Chinese men's basketball team lost to Serbia 63:105. Since the difference in strength between the two teams is obvious, the result is also reasonable. Chinese team coach Jordjevic said after the game that the World Cup, which really belongs to the Chinese men's basketball team, has just begun.
Image source: FIBA Basketball World Cup website
For the Chinese men's basketball team, which aims to qualify directly for the Paris Olympics, Serbia is not a direct competitor. The clash with two other opponents in the same group, South Sudan and Puerto Rico, is the match that China will try to win.
Especially in today's match with South Sudan, facing the lowest ranked team in the group, the Chinese men's basketball team can be said to have to win. But the South Sudan team is by no means a weak team, and they have attracted a number of strong players before the World Cup, and their real strength is much higher than the world ranking.
In this game, the Chinese men's basketball team followed the starting lineup against Serbia last time, with Zhao Rui, Li Kaier, Zhang Zhenlin, Zhou Peng and Zhou Qi partnering to start.
Image source: FIBA Basketball World Cup official Weibo
At the beginning of the game, the South Sudan team scored from the outside line in a row, and the Chinese team trailed 0:6. Zhao Rui responded with three points, and Li Kyle also scored under the basket to complete the first World Cup score for the Chinese men's basketball team. After that, Zhou Peng hit a three-pointer, and the Chinese team won 8:7. However, the South Sudanese team gradually dominated the court with excellent outside touch, and at the end of the first quarter, the Chinese men's basketball team trailed 14:22.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Hu Mingxuanli scored five consecutive points on a sudden outside shot, Cui Yongxi hit a jumper, and the Chinese team played a wave of 7-0 offensive. After that, the two sides attacked and defended each other, and the Chinese men's basketball team narrowed the point gap several times, but the South Sudan team maintained the lead in the score. At 40:44, at halftime, China trailed by four points.
Yibian fought again, the Chinese team strengthened its defense, and the two sides fell into a fight. The Chinese men's basketball team twice pushed the gap to 1 point, but never managed to complete the comeback, and was seized by the opponent at the end of the quarter to open the score again. At the end of the third quarter, the Chinese team trailed 53:63.
In the last quarter, the Chinese men's basketball team, which did its best, failed to fight back and unfortunately suffered two consecutive losses.
Image source: FIBA Basketball World Cup website
After the loss, the Chinese men's basketball team temporarily finished bottom of the group. With Serbia beating Puerto Rico later today, the Chinese team can only keep their hopes of qualifying for the group if they also defeat Puerto Rico in the next match.
In addition, in the competition of "direct to Paris", the Chinese men's basketball team is also facing pressure from old rivals Japan and the Philippines.
As things stand, Italy can only qualify for a Group A spot by beating the Philippines in the final round. Against a European powerhouse with a back-to-back match, the Philippines is likely to end the first stage of the group stage with a 0-3 record.
Image source: FIBA Basketball World Cup official Weibo
The Japanese team's cross-cut was a little unexpected. Together with Germany, Australia and Finland, they defeated Finland in the group stage on the 27th, achieving the first victory for an Asian team in this World Cup.
In the final game of the group stage of this stage, facing the medal contender Australia, the Japanese men's basketball team may end with a record of 1 win and 2 losses. This gives them a one-win advantage in the "best in Asia" race with a goal difference.
At present, Lebanon has been out of the group ahead of schedule, and Jordan and Iran also have little hope of qualifying. This means that with the exception of Japan, all of these Asian teams are likely to enter qualifying 17-32 with a record of 0 wins.
Image source: FIBA Basketball World Cup official Weibo
Therefore, only by beating Puerto Rico can China match Japan in terms of victory in the next stage of competition.
At the same time, if they fall into the 17-32 place qualifying, Japan's opponents may be Cape Verde and Venezuela, while China's team is more likely to face the Philippines in addition to facing their old rival Angola. Looking at the overall situation, the Japanese team still has the advantage.
But all this is a hypothesis before the situation is clear. As Jordjevic said when the Chinese team started the World Cup journey, the result of the game does not depend on calculation, but on serious preparation one by one. In a tournament like the World Cup, teams need to improve their form, play well, and sometimes luck is important.
For the Chinese men's basketball team, the most important thing now is to forget the results of the first two games and play the following games well.
Source: China News Network