Thanks to a strong comeback, the German basketball players won the second duel with Croatia in the World Cup qualification. The world and European champion won 91:89 (77:77, 41:50) in Bonn after extra time and thus took revenge for the 88:93 in Zagreb on Friday. The German team once again found it very difficult to cope with the Croatians’ aggressive style of play and were temporarily behind by 15 points, but then turned things around in time.
“A very, very important victory. I’m proud of the players,” said national coach Alex Mumbru, who once again had to do without many important players: the NBA professionals around captain Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner were missing again, as were almost all the players from the Euroleague. The best German thrower was Johannes Thiemann with 24 points in front of 6,032 spectators.
Germany now has a record of 3-1 victories and a place in the next round is almost certain. The first three teams in the group of four advance to the next group stage. The results from the preliminary round will be taken into account. The first group phase will conclude at the beginning of July with games in Israel and against Cyprus.