The Spanish basketball teamin its new cycle with Chus Mateo As a coach, he will try to consolidate his leadership in Group A in the qualifying phase for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar, which will lead the national team to play two games against Ukraine, the first of which this Friday in Riga (Latvia).
After his great debut in the first window with wins against Denmark and Georgia, The Family will look to extend their lead against Ukraine, who also won both of their matches in November.
In a list that went from 16 players to 14, with the departure of Eric Vila and Miguel González, Chus Mateo will have to choose two discards for the call for this first match in Riga, the scene chosen in light of the war conflict that is currently affecting the Ukrainian team, reports Efe.
The team, with the base Jaime Fernández as great captainis made up of Álvaro Cárdenas, Lluís Costa, Fran Guerra, Francis Alonso, Pep Busquets, Sergi Martínez, Santi YustaAlex Reyes, Pierre Oriola, Ferrán Bassas, Oriol Paulí, Izan Almansa and Issac Nogués.
Oriola is the big news in this call. The power forward returns five years after his last game with ‘La Familia’. In the run-up, he spoke with TVE about his return and admitted that he was not expecting Chus Mateo’s call.
Oriola returns to ‘La Familia’ after five years since his last game
A powerful rival
The team has worked this week in Guadalajara to be a “recognizable” team, with a “commitment front and back” that “does not break at any time,” in Mateo’s words.
The coach has been optimistic: “We have a very committed team with a lot of enthusiasm, so we can go very far“.
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Full transcript
We will see it on Teledeporte starting at 2 in the afternoon
and snow has dawned on the family today in Latvia, a country where tomorrow their
match against Ukraine as it could not be played in this country due to the conflict
warlike
Second window of the FIBA or what is the same, a new opportunity to
Spain to achieve its goal, qualify for the 2027 World Cup
Spain, the family that will train today at two in the afternoon at the same time on
tomorrow’s game in a team led by Chus Mateo that does not count
with no Euroleague or NBA player, but he does have a team full of
commitment and eagerness to work
It is an important window.
We have a team…
who represents Spanish basketball very well, who is super committed and
With that enthusiasm I believe we can go very far
We know that Ukraine is perhaps a little bit better, let’s put it that way, too
they won the first two in November
and we have to play very well and very solid to be able to win it
Chus Mateo, before facing Ukraine: “We can go very far”
The coach, for his part, defined Ukraine as a “very physical” and “fighting” team that has a good defense. “It is a very powerful team, which runs the field well, even with big peopleand that fights until the end,” added the coach.
Oleksandr Kovliarshooting guard for Buducnost and former player for Obradoiro, will be one of the Ukrainian team’s main offensive assets, as he is the top scorer in this phase with 29.5 points per game.
After this third day, the Spanish team will play again against Ukraine next March 2 in Oviedo. The three best teams in each group (of four teams) will advance to the second and final qualifying phase with results.
