The Argentine basketball team is playing its ticket for the World Cup in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia in 40 minutes. Neither more nor less than that. With a victory against the Dominican Republic from 9:10 p.m. in Mar del Plata, the team led by Pablo Prigioni will qualify for the ecumenical contest that will be held in July, while if they lose against those led by Néstor García it will depend on what happens in the three games from the other zone involving Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The match is so important for the Albiceleste team that Gabriel Deck and Nicolás Laprovittola traveled especially from Spain to join the team.
With the victory against Canada last Thursday, in which Facundo Campazzo was the figure with 13 points and 11 assists, Argentina shares second place with its rival on Sunday and Venezuela with eight wins and three losses, but loses in the eventual tiebreaker against the Venezuelans -with the Dominican Republic cannot match because they play against each other-. For this reason, the hypothetical fall against Che García’s team would relegate it to fourth position and in that case it will have to wait for what happens in the other area to find out its future.
There the equation is simple: you need at least a loss from Brazil, Puerto Rico or Mexico, the three that are tied with a 7-4 record, to guarantee the ticket. On the other hand, if the Brazilians defeat the already classified United States, the Boricuas defeat Colombia and the Mexicans defeat Uruguay, both eliminated, Argentina’s only chance is to win their own duel against the Dominicans.
Without room for speculation, coach Prigioni will have two luxury reinforcements for the duel against the Caribbean. After their respective Euroleague commitments this week and since there is no date for the ACB League this weekend, Deck and Laprovittola traveled especially to play the decisive match, which will decide whether Argentina repeats another World Cup performance or will have to watch it on television.
