SPAIN is world No. 1 and the defending Fiba Basketball World Cup champions, but it will miss the services of Ricky Rubio after he decided to step away from basketball, while Marc Gasol has retired from international play following the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Still, Spain is out to field a competitive team led by longtime national player Rudy Fernandez, brothers Juancho and Willy Hernangomez, and NBA player Santi Aldama among the notables in the team’s extended line-up.
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Spain though won’t be playing in Manila early in the tournament, being in Group G which will play in Jakarta during the group stage.
So how’s the road of Spain to the Philippines?
GROUP STAGE
Spain’s schedule will see them face Ivory Coast on August 26, Brazil on August 28, and Iran on August 30 at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta. Curiously, Spain lost to Brazil in their matches in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics where it claimed silver and bronze, respectively, so a loss isn’t far-fetched at all.
Nevertheless, two wins in the group stage would most likely be enough for Spain to move on to the next stage.
SECOND ROUND
If Spain moves to the second round, it will be joining one more team from Group G as well as the top two teams in Group H, which has France, Canada, Latvia, and Lebanon, to form Group L.
The second round is expected to be a challenge with France, ranked No. 5 in the world and led by Rudy Gobert, and Canada, already with a host of NBA players led by Jamal Murray and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in their extended roster, seen as possible roadblocks to Spain’s bid for a title repeat.
The top two countries in Group L will move to the quarterfinals, the start of the knockout phase that will now be played in Manila.
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