Skopje, kilometer zero to the 2023 World Cup

At the Limak hotel in Skopje, where he concentrates for the first qualifying match for the 2023 World Cup against North Macedonia (7:30 p.m., Teledeporte and RTVE Play), in the expedition of the Selection There is a belief that the champion will defend his title in two years in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. But they also know that this path of the Windows is torture and, knowing how the qualification for 2019 was, they will have to suffer.

Anticipating events, Spain, Thanks to a concentration in Benahavís, he did a job prior to those first Windows that allowed a relatively placid classification for the 2019 World Cup thanks to a perfect first phase, with six wins and zero losses. Just four years ago Spain made its debut in Podgorica in that return of the FIBA ​​Windows. It was good. That is the dream of the first phase, but this time there are curves, especially in Jaén against Georgia.

Before, North Macedonia, number 53 in the FIBA ​​ranking. The victory at the Jane Sandanski (capacity of 6,500 spectators) is a must. But that must be reflected on the track. Once again deprived of the Euroleague players, Scariolo has had to compose a classic Windows team, with Quino Colom, 33 years old, at the helm; and with Jaime Fernández, Darío Brizuela, López-Arostegui or Joan Sastre as the hard core. Jaime Pradilla is the great young hope. At 20, the Valencia player makes his debut on a list. His numbers and his feelings in the ACB allow us to intuit a player with a journey.

Macedonia lives these days pending football, with a team, that of Dimitrevski and Bardhi, which has been able to get into the play-offs to go to the World Cup as it already went to the Eurocup, but in any area that the old Yugoslavia touches and with ties Hellenes, basketball moves. It has been more than ten years since that Eurobasket semifinal in which Navarro’s 35 points crushed Ilievski, McCalebb or Pero Antic. This North Macedonia does not have that level, and also counts on the absence of the young Nenad Dimitrijevic, injured with Valencia Basket. But it will be good if Spain does not trust itself and do the job. The winding road to the World Cup requires a good start.