Spain debuts in its Pre-Olympic tournament against a weak Lebanon

Spain debuts in its Pre-Olympic tournament against a weak Lebanon

The Spanish men’s basketball team will make its debut this Tuesday at La Fonteta in Valencia in the Pre-Olympic tournament of which it is the host, with a first duel against Lebanon (20.30) with which to add the first victory and begin to gather strength for the fight to be in the final and obtain the only ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Group A should be led by Spain and Sergio Scariolo’s men, the big favourites to secure that Olympic ticket, make their debut at La Fonteta against a weak Lebanon that, barring a major surprise, has nothing to do to unsettle a ‘Family’ that must start to gain tone in the face of the decisive duels of the weekend.

Lebanon and Angola are Spain’s first rivals in ‘their’ Pre-Olympic tournament and the Middle Easterners are in the crosshairs of the Spaniards, who after learning that they would lose the Blaugranas Álex Abrines and Joel Parra – the latest to be excluded – are now focused on securing that ticket to Paris in Valencia.

Rudy Fernández captains a group made up of Sergio Llull, Willy Hernangómez, Juancho Hernangómez, Darío Brizuela, Xabi López-Arostegui, Alberto Díaz, Usman Grabuba, Jaime Pradilla, Juan Núñez, Lorenzo Brown and Santi Aldama, all of them under the orders of Sergio Scariolo, who does not want any mistakes against Lebanon.

“We’ve talked a lot these days, there’s no need to say more. It’s the moment of the competition, when everyone has to be involved, focused, ready to play their part and give their all for the team without any kind of frustration or personal agenda, with no other concern than to do their best to contribute positive things to the team and get off to a good start in the first match, which is the only one we’re thinking about,” said the Spanish coach in the preview of this duel.

Spain is clearly superior to Lebanon in all aspects and in all positions. But Spain must gather courage, put behind them the nerves of their debut and of playing at home and display the basketball that should take them to Paris and, there, fight for the medals. In addition, for Rudy Fernández it will be a ‘last dance’ and he wants it to be in Paris. And, to do that, they must first beat Lebanon.

There is only one official precedent between Spain and Lebanon. It was a Group D match in the preliminary round of the 2010 World Cup, in which Spain won by a resounding 57-91 to secure their place in the qualifiers, while the Asians were eliminated as second-to-last, with a single victory against a weak Canada. However, the Spanish also faced Lebanon in five matches at the Mediterranean Games. Now comes the moment of truth.

Lebanon, under the command of Serbian Miodrag Perisic, dreams of being at the Olympic Games for the first time, but they arrive at this Pre-Olympic without the one who many consider their great star, the 29-year-old point guard Wael Arakji, and without many options. However, in 2022 they were runners-up in the Asian Championship and come from participating in the last World Cup in 2023, without being able to get past the preliminary round.

DATASHEET.

–EQUIPMENT.

SPAIN: Brown, Brizuela, Fernandez, Aldama and Willy Hernangomez –possible starting five–; Pradilla, Lopez-Arostegui, Diaz, Juancho Hernangomez, Garuba, Llull and Nunez.

LEBANON: Khalil, El Darwich, Spellman, Ezzedine and Hadidian –possible initial quintet–; Saoud, Zeinoun, Mansour, Haidar, Khayat, Gyokchyan and Mezher.

–PAVILION: San Luis Fountain Pavilion.

–TIME: 20.30/TDP.