Brazil starts this Friday (2), at 8:10 pm (Brasilia time), the walk in the AmeriCup, the Copa América of men’s basketball, with games at the Geraldo Magalhães gymnasium, known as Geraldão, in Recife. The first opponent will be Canada.
Next stop, Recife, AMERICAP!
Northeast, we arrived this Tuesday night ??
Let’s go with everything in search of recovery with the support of Geraldão’s fans ?#basketball #basketball #cbb pic.twitter.com/oNIsjK4g5N
— Basketball Brazil – CBB (@basquetebrasil) August 30, 2022
The Brazilians appear in Group A, which also includes Uruguay and Colombia, teams that open the competition at 1:40 pm this Friday. On Saturday (3), again at 8:10 pm, the team led by Gustavo de Conti faces the Colombians. The campaign in the first phase comes to an end on Monday (5), at the same time, against the Uruguayans.
There are three groups with four teams in each. The first two advance to the stage, in addition to the two best third-placed teams. The quarter finals will be next Thursday (8). The semifinals will take place on the 10th, a Saturday. The dispute for third place (17:10) and the decision (20:40) will be the next day, a Sunday. The seven best teams qualify for the Pan American Games in Santiago (Chile) in 2023.
Four-time champions, Brazil haven’t won the tournament since 2009, when they beat hosts Puerto Rico in the final. Guard Marcelinho Huertas, from Tenerife (Spain), captain of the current national team, was part of the squad that had names like Marcelinho Machado, Leandrinho and Anderson Varejão (all of them already retired). Two years later, in Argentina, the green and yellow team was runner-up, surpassed by the hosts.
In the following editions, the selection made poor campaigns. In 2013 (Venezuela) and 2015 (Mexico), Brazilians ranked ninth out of ten participants. In the last Copa América, in 2017, played in Argentine, Colombian and Uruguayan territories, the 10th position (among 12 teams), with a group reformulated in relation to that of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, a year earlier, cost the place in the Pan de Janeiro. Lima (Peru), in 2019, something unprecedented.
Brazil arrives under pressure for the competition, as it comes from three consecutive defeats in the qualifiers for next year’s World Cup, which will be played in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. The most recent ones in the opening of the second phase, for Puerto Rico, away from home for a week, and Mexico, last Monday (29) in Jaraguá do Sul (SC). The Brazilians are in third place in Group F, among six teams. The top three are guaranteed at the World Cup. The fourth-placed team needs to have a better campaign than the fourth in Group E to qualify.
Come on, AmeriCup ?
The last training session at Geraldão through the lens of Maurício Almeida ??
Let’s go all out for the AmeriCup! #cbb #basketball #basketball #americup pic.twitter.com/lfvaSCf5DX
— Basketball Brazil – CBB (@basquetebrasil) September 2, 2022
The list of players who will represent the country in the AmeriCup was revealed on Thursday (1). Regarding the team defeated by Mexico, the novelty is the return of winger / guard Vitor Benite, from Gran Canaria (Spain), who had been spared because of an inflammation in his right foot. He took the spot for forward/pivot Gabriel Jaú, from Flamengo.
“We know all the difficulties we are going to face, that the moment is not good, but that our group has quality. And nothing better than an event of this size to recover. It will be a very balanced AmeriCup, but we play at home, with the support of the fans, and we are in a position to have a great competition”, commented Benite to the website of the Brazilian Basketball Confederation (CBB).
Current champions and biggest winners of the AmeriCup, with seven titles, the United States emerges again as the main favorites. The team, which is in Group C, with Mexico, Panama and Venezuela, is mainly composed of athletes from the G-League, which brings together players that are underused or without space in the main squads of the NBA. Case of forward Patrick McCaw, who defends the Delaware Blue Coats, affiliated with the Philadelphia 76ers, and has been a three-time champion of the main basketball championship in the world, for Golden State Warriors (2017 and 2018) and Toronto Raptors (2019).
Another power is Argentina, runner-up in the 2017 edition and two-time champion of the tournament. The brothers will have, in Brazil, veterans such as winger Carlos Delfino, Olympic champion at the 2004 Games in Athens (Greece), and guards Facundo Campazzo and Nico Laprovittola, vice world champions for three years. The team, however, had a last-minute change in command, with the resignation of coach Néstor García. The Argentines, who are in Group B, with Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, will be led by Pablo Prigioni.
Brazil’s squad
Shipowners: Yago Mateus (Ratio Ulm, from Germany), Marcelinho Huertas (Tenerife, from Spain) and Rafa Luz (Andorra, from Spain).
Wingers/guards: Georginho (Sesi Franca) and Vitor Benite (Gran Canaria, Spain).
Alas: Didi Louzada (Portland Trail Blazers, US) and Léo Mendl (Urban Transylvania, Romania).
Wings/Pivots: Rafa Mineiro (Flamengo) and Lucas Dias (Sesi Franca).
Pivots: Lucas Mariano (Sesi Franca), Augusto Lima (Unicaja Málaga, from Spain) and Cristiano Felicio (Granada, from Spain).
