None of the four World Cup finalists from four years ago are in this year’s quarterfinals.
The second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Philippines-Japan-Indonesia 2023 has come to a close. While there are some heroes who punched their tickets to the quarterfinals, there are also eight nations who were eliminated.
메이저사이트Shockingly, not one of the four finalists from four years ago made it to the quarterfinals. Spain, who won the World Cup in China, runner-up Argentina, and third- and fourth-place finishers France and Australia are all absent.
None of the four World Cup finalists from four years ago are in this year’s quarterfinals. Photo courtesy of FIBA
Defending champions Spain suffered a shocking two-game losing streak in the second round and failed to reach the quarterfinals. It’s been 29 years since Spain hasn’t reached the final four at a Basketball World Cup since 1994 in Canada.
Spain also dominated the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket, overtaking the United States as the No. 1 team in the FIBA rankings. They were also one of the favorites to win the World Cup. Despite losing key players like Lorenzo Brown and Ricky Rubio, they were still at the top of their game.
However, after a shock loss to Latvia and a close upset loss to Canada, Spain was ultimately stopped in the second round. It’s no exaggeration to say that this was the biggest upset of the tournament.
Argentina didn’t even make the cut. They were beaten by Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela in the Americas qualifiers. It was the aftereffect of a failure to replace the golden generation.
France won silver at Tokyo 2020. Their first-round exit was a huge shock. Photo courtesy of FIBA
France and Australia also packed up quickly. France collapsed in the first round. They were swept by Canada and then fell to Latvia, sending them down to the deciding game. They took down Côte d’Ivoire and Iran, but couldn’t salvage their pride.
Australia went 2-1 with a loss to Germany in the first round before falling to Slovenia in the second round. Dropped to the playoffs, they had to settle for punching their ticket to Paris 2024.
Even if we expand the scope to the quarterfinals, the United States and Serbia are the only two teams to survive to this year’s final tournament. The aforementioned top four teams failed, and the Czech Republic and Poland didn’t even qualify for Europe. That’s a big difference in temperature in four years.
Meanwhile, in the quarterfinals, we have USA and Italy, Germany and Latvia, Lithuania and Serbia, and finally Canada and Slovenia. The quarterfinals are very competitive, despite the fact that the last four were all ‘blowouts’. It’s not hard to see who could win the tournament.
2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Philippines-Japan-Indonesia Quarterfinals
Italy-USA
Germany-Latvia
Lithuania-Serbia
Canada-Slovenia