Sport.ua continues the story about the upcoming planetary forum and the next step will be the presentation of the bottom fours of the tournament group, whose matches will be held in Japan (EF groups) and Indonesia (GH fours).

Group E

First in alphabetical order is group E, which, according to many basketball fans, is the most equal and unpredictable group of the tournament. meet face to face Finland, Germany, Japan and Australia.

The German national team has a very solid squad here. Among the bronze medalists of the last EuroBasket were four NBA players who applied for the tournament: Denis Schroeder, Daniel Theis and brothers Moritz and Franz Wagner. They will be accompanied by respected Euroleague players such as Johannes Vogtmann, Johannes Tiemann, Maodo Lo and Niels Giffi.

The representation of the world’s strongest league in the Bundestim could be even greater. Maxi Kleber was also present at the training camp, but during the tournament preparation he had a serious argument with forward Denis Schroeder and then with the local basketball federation, who sided with the Toronto defender in the shootout. . As a result, Maxi Kleber left the team. He will not help Germany and Isaiah Hartenstein in the tournament.

The Australian team is not inferior to the Germans in terms of potential. Boomers, who took fourth place in the last world championship, the best result in the history of their performance on the planet forums, is not at all against a repeat of their success. To do this, they recruited nine representatives from the NBA at once; most notable of these were longtime team leader Patty Mills and young Josh Giddy, who in the near future should take over the main role in the team from Mills (perhaps this has already happened in this championship). Also included in the proposal are Josh Green, Joe Ingles and Matthias Tybull. But the Australians’ weak spot is likely to be the frontcourt. Especially after the injury of Houston center Jock Lendale. He was injured in a friendly match against South Sudan.

The strongest basketball player of this group will wear the Finnish jersey. Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen continues impressive game development and will make her debut in the world championship. Suomi is currently experiencing a partial generational change. In Asia, veteran players Petteri Kopponen and Sean Huff, who helped Markkanen in the last EuroBasket, will no longer appear on the field. However, in addition to Sasu Salin, Alex Murphy, young talents Miro Little and Mikael Jantunen also take part in the ranking. However, Kopponen will be missed for a long time by the Finnish national team for his experience and talent.

If the Finnish national team expected their best player, we cannot say the same for the Japanese. Rui Hachimura will not play in the tournament, which greatly complicates the task of the “samurai”. Yes, there will be another NBA representative on the team, but Phoenix forward Uta Watanabe’s efforts may not be enough to even get through the first group round. While the Japanese championship has taken a good step forward lately, it hasn’t gained enough strength for its representative team to go forward in the World Cup. But let’s not forget the factor of house walls and the absence of air conditioning problems, which is very important in remote Okinawa.

Once again, group E is the most unpredictable group of the tournament and it is clear that all the teams in the group are aiming to at least make it to the second round. However, two of them will not be able to fulfill even their minimum duties for the upcoming tournament.

Group F

Group F can be called the most exotic group of the championship. team company Slovenia will include Venezuela, Georgia and the Cape Verde Islands. Moreover, the last two teams are the first teams to play in the world championship.

The most status player of the championship will play in this group. After the failures and injuries suffered by many serious basketball players, the number one star of the 2023 World Cup will be Luka Doncic from Slovenia. The presence of the “golden boy” automatically puts the Balkans in the favourites. But all is not so rosy for Slovenes. Another NBA player, Vlatko Cancar, suffered a serious injury in the pre-tournament practice match, Edo Muric was injured earlier, and Goran Dragic resisted the urge to wear the national team jersey again.

Luka can do a lot with his talent but without the above mentioned players Slovenia becomes a team with very limited staff potential. The efforts of veteran Zoran Dragic, Klemen Prepelic and naturalized American Mike Toby may not even be enough to make it to the quarterfinals, and it’s no fun to follow them in the Slovenian squad. Based on this, the head coach of Balkans, Alexander Sekulich, will be very keen to set up such a Doncic Team in the national team where the whole team will work for Luka. But often in big tournaments this format of the game does not justify itself.

But it is the Georgian national team that collects the maximum combat strength. Here are European stars Tornike Shengelia and Giorgi Shermadini, NBA reps Goga Bitadze and Sandro Mamukelashvili, very powerful naturalized American Ted McFadden and even 37-year-old veteran Giorgi Tsintsadze, who played for Budivelnik more than a decade ago. Despite his debut as a player, the Georgians are quite capable of making some noise in the championship.

Cape Verde became the smallest country to compete in the World Cup, taking that status away from Montenegro. In the tournament, the islanders put all their hopes on the great man Walter Tavares. Considered by many to be the world’s strongest non-NBA center, the Real Madrid star will try to help his team perform at the first world forum in its history. And such a result can be considered a good performance for 17-32 places in the tournament. It’s hard to count on Africans to leave the group, after all Tavares has little talent behind his broad back. If Swingman Ivan Almeida can not be attributed to relatively well-known basketball players.

It will not be the first time the Venezuelan national team will take part in world championships and will play in the fourth of the six planetary forums possible in the 21st century. There are hardly any names that the wide range of fans on the team are more or less familiar with. Such a development can only be attributed to striker Michael Carrera, who managed to spend thirty years at a decent European level. But the strength of Venezuelans in teamwork and experience. Their roster remains stable over the years. In the last tournament, Venezuela even left the first group. Let’s see if Latin Americans can repeat their successes four years ago.

Group G

Group G was drawn Spain, Brazil, Iran and Ivory Coast. And here a few contenders for the next stage clearly stand out. Moreover, the last world champions of the Iberian Peninsula are among the main candidates for the gold medal this time.

It cannot be said that the composition of the Spaniards was ideal. First of all, the problems were related to the position of the quarterback. NBA player Ricky Rubio is missing the championship due to personal reasons, and American Lorenzo Brown, who perfectly replaced Rubio at EuroBasket 2022, will not be coming to Asia due to injury.

But the depth of the cast in “Red Fury” is incredible. Despite significant losses, the composition in the hands of coaching workshop master Sergio Scariolo will be extremely serious. Also included are brothers Willy and Juancho Ergangomes, who, along with Lorenzo Brown, led Spain to victory in the continental championship last year. Young NBA talents Ousmane Garuba and Santi Aldama will be in the front row, while Alberto Diaz and Juan Nunez will work together to solve the first point. There is a separate line in the team, which consists of two mega veterans of all European basketball. Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Yul still pose a great threat to their rivals, despite their seventy-three years together. Of course, they won’t be spending much time on the court, but they can still play important minutes, catch the ball or make the most important three-pointer from all fours or the middle of the court. And the role of the two representatives of Real Madrid in the dressing room of the national team is out of the question.

Spain will traditionally be one of the main favorites of a major tournament for the last two decades. Competition is strong, but Red Fury’s champion mentality should never be underestimated. It more than covers some of the major personnel issues.

Brazil should become the second dominant power in this quartet. Representatives of South America are taking their key players, who had a great time last season, to the tournament. We’re talking about Iago dos Santos and Bruno Caboclo. They will be assisted by 40-year-old veteran Marcelo Huertas from the Spanish championship and central defender Raul Neto, who transferred from the NBA to Turkey this summer.

The composition and potential of the Brazilians are not bad, but if they at least aim for the quarter-finals, it will be difficult. This is because the tournament is a very difficult grid. Brazil will have to beat at least two rivals from Spain, France and Canada to enter the top eight. But in the second stage, they should go smoothly.

Group H

In the final H group, a sneaky draw brought together two contenders for the medal at once: the French and Canadian teams. They will be accompanied by national teams from Latvia and Lebanon.

Much is expected from Canada at the 2023 World Cup. Maple has a very strong generation who can win a medal in a big tournament. And now basketball players in North America have a real opportunity to justify the advances made. The person who took Canada to new heights is Oklahoma defender Shay Gilges-Alexander, who had an outstanding performance last season and was selected to the All-NBA First Team. He will be assisted by Utah Jazz veteran Kenny Olynyk and New York defender RJ Barrett.

The Canadians’ roster could have been lethal overall, but it was learned shortly before the start of the tournament that Jamal Murray would not be helping Maple. The newly elected NBA champion really wanted to go to Asia and came to a training camp before the tournament, but his physical condition and health conditions did not allow it.

The French national team brings to Indonesia a highly experienced roster (the youngest players are 25 years old) led by Minnesota’s tall player Rudy Gobert. In general, the foreground of the “tricolors” on the planetary forum looks simply intimidating. Besides Gobert, there is Mustafa Fall, who is 218 centimeters tall, as well as Matthias Lessor and Gershon Jabusele, who had excellent seasons in the Euroleague. This great company will be watered down by respected veterans Nicolas Batum and Nando de Colo, whose 2023 World Cup will be their last major competition at the national team level in their careers. Don’t forget New York defender Evan Fournier.

It is clear that the silver medalists of the past EuroBasket have the capacity to win medals in the upcoming tournament. The Tricolors will miss Victor Wenbanyama, who was busy making his NBA debut and missed the national team, but his time will come later. And without Vembi, his most seasoned mentor, Vincent Collet, has a team ready to win.

The Latvian national team planned to challenge two favorite teams, but it will be very difficult for the Baltic teams to do so without their top player Kristaps Porzingis, who missed the tournament due to injury. Even getting out of their group is a big question for them now. However, in his successful days, brothers Davis and Dairis Bertanshi and Zalgiris’ tall man Rolands Šmits can create problems for any opponent.