Serbia - USA The clash that the whole planet was looking forward to in this World Championship will take place tomorrow with Serbia and the United States of America crossing their swords to 5 position. Yes you read it well, the two big favorites of the competition managed to be eliminated in the quarter-finals and the long-awaited final turned into a frenzied ranking game.
The Serbs from where they looked like the absolute favorite as they had a full roster and won their first 50 points clash, were defeated by Spain in the first serious game they were called upon to bring their total defeat to A. The Latin American team took advantage of the stress of the favorite that had drowned the Serbs, hit every defensive weakness by scoring 97 points and reached a major victory. Bielica's cry at the post-exclusion press conference fully reflects the pressure the Balkans have felt to reach the top of the world and this has not allowed them to make the most of their potential. Ranking matches are the last chance for redemption as finishing in 5 position will ensure direct qualification to the Tokyo Olympics avoiding the process of pre-Olympic tournaments.
The Americans, on the other hand, were defeated by the stunning French as they were nowhere to counter Gobert's sport nor to keep the Fournier and Decolon machine guns out of their basket. This defeat was the first after 2006 and the first time since 2002 that they will not be in the World Championship medals while the rankings are clearly a matter of pride as they have already secured qualification to the Olympics. They are called up for a second consecutive day as opposed to their opponents who had a day off rest while knocked out after the tournament, after Teitum, and Marcus Smart reducing Popovic's options for his team's periphery.
The two teams on the cards look similar but the Serbs motivation and the fact that they had a day off rest leads me to the ace in outsider performance.
