Spain is the world’s No. 1 and Fiba Basketball World Cup champion but will miss out on Ricky Rubio’s service after deciding to step down from basketball, and Mark Gasol has retired from international following the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
But Spain has a competitive team, led by longtime national team players Rudy Fernandez, brothers Juancho and Willie Hernandez, and NBA player Santi Aldama, among the notable players in the team’s extended lineup.
Spain will not play in Manila at the beginning of the tournament, but they are in Group G, which will play in Jakarta during the group stage.
Group Stage
Spain’s schedule will face Ivory Coast on Aug. 26, Brazil on Aug. 28, and Iran on Aug. 30 at the Indonesian Arena in Jakarta. Strangely enough, Spain lost to Brazil, which won silver and bronze medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, respectively, so the defeat is not unreasonable at all.
Nevertheless, two wins in the group stage will be enough for Spain to move on.
Second round
If Spain advances to the second round, one more team will join Group G, as well as the top two teams in Group H, which include France, Canada, Latvia and Lebanon, will form Group L.
The second round could be an obstacle to Spain’s re-challenge as France, ranked fifth in the world and led by Rudy Gobert, and Canada, which includes NBA players led by Imi Jamal Murray and Shay Gilles-Alexander, are expected to challenge. 먹튀검증
The top two countries in Group L will advance to the quarterfinals. The start of the tournament is Manila.