The duel between Lithuania and Greece will take place on Friday (September 1st) in the Philippines. The meeting will begin at 15.40 Kiev time.

On the first day of autumn, the best sixteen teams of the tournament will start the fight in the second stage of the 2023 World Cup. The degree of competition in this round will be much higher, as the weaker teams have already been eliminated and only strong opponents will now compete against each other. In addition, nearly each of these matches will most seriously affect the determination of the eight teams that will continue to compete in the play-offs. Such duels, of course, include the duel between Lithuania and Greece.

The Baltic national team competed in the first place with Egypt, Mexico and Montenegro. And we can say that the Lithuanians passed this part of the tournament path in training mode. In the opening match, Egypt was defeated – 93:67, and then the same fate befell the Mexican team – 96:66. In the framework of the third matchday, the match with the Montenegrin team was expected with much greater interest, after all, the Balkans are an opponent of a different caliber than the previous opponents of Kazys Maksvytis team, but even here the Lithuanians remained loyal to themselves – 91:71.

Lithuania entered the tournament without one of the two NBA stars. Domantas Sabonis missed the tournament due to injury, while only tall man Jonas Valanciunas remained in the roster. It is useful to pay our respects to the Lithuanian coaching staff, who did not build the team’s game around a single NBA representative, but managed to prepare a very variable team for the tournament both in defense and offense.

Valanciunas is of course the leader of his team (13.7 points + 10 rebounds per game), but other players also have significant contributions. Suffice it to say that eleven of the twelve basketball players of the Lithuanian national team spent an average of more than ten minutes playing time in the tournament and scored at least four points. Let’s pick striker Mindaugas Kuzminskas (12.7 points) and the team’s main point guard Rokas Jokubaitis (12 points + 5.3 assists).

It is still unclear what to expect from the Greeks, if the Lithuanian national team has already shown a strong team with a claim to high ranks. First there was a won match with Jordan – 92:71, when the Greeks clearly did not play at full strength, then a lost meeting with the USA team – 81:109, which should not be taken into account due to the high level. The choice of the opponent and finally the decisive duel in the first place against New Zealand. Dimitris Itoudis’s team looked like they were playing the fool for three quarters of the time, but they quickly took the game into their own hands when they started to smell of fried meat in the fourth ten-minute period – 83:74. What is the real potential of the Greek national team and will it be enough to advance to the quarterfinals? The answer to this question will be against Lithuania and Montenegro in the second group stage.

It is worth noting that the upcoming match will play a key role in the fight for a place in the playoffs. Lithuania is ahead of Greece by one win and if it succeeds it could already be in the 1/4 final today. True, for such a scenario to happen, the USA team still needs to beat Montenegro in another group match, but that shouldn’t be a problem. In contrast, the Hellenes will still give themselves nothing thanks to their victory over the Baltics, but they will give them an excellent advantage in the quarterfinal race. With a possible win, Dimitris Itoudis’s team will gain an advantage in personal encounters and the Lithuanians will have to jump over their heads and beat the Americans in the final round. Therefore, it is most likely the meeting of Lithuania and Greece that will show us as one of the participants of the play-offs.

Sport.ua forecast: Victory of the Lithuanian team

1.34 – 3.25 make a bet zrobbite bet

1.35 – 3.23 make a bet zrobbite bet