World Cup2019: loss of Montenegro in the last 5 minutes; the fight for a roadmap for China will intensify

Latvia's men's national team lost to the 2019 World Cup qualifying tournament in Montenegro – 75:84 (20:24, 41:45, 61:61). After the 9th round, team Latvia Group I is divided into 3/5. place. On Sunday 2 December at 5 pm in Ljubljana, our team will play with the Slovenian team (TV6 live).

The Montenegrin pressure on the back of the basket has brought the Latvians to the magic of our long-time players and, although Bojans Dubļevičs has justified his reputation as a European star, Martins Meier, Kaspars Bērziņš, Andrejs Gražulis and Ojārs Siliņš have brought more points to their teams (30h) throughout the game 53). However, at the beginning of the match, the lack of physical and individual success was felt in the external line of the Latvian team. The Montenegrins began with confidence, fleeing between 4:11 and 4:11. When the attack began, the Latvian team returned to the rhythm of the match but only managed to break once in the first half (25:24 – 13 minutes). The major drawbacks were experienced at 19 minutes (36:44).

At the beginning of the second period, the rise of Kaspars Vecvagars further accentuated the Latvian team's contours (in the first half, the technical note was about the simulation.) At the beginning of the second half he was very questionable as an unsportsmanlike sportsman). The struggles with limited resources managed to take the initiative, but beyond plus 3, the opponents did not let go. Mārtiņš Meiers (27 points, at 12/14 goals of the match) could still score 67:66 in the 34th minute of the national team, but Nikolai Ivanovich and Dublievich took the initiative with three points, after which striker Nemanja Djurisić, third, took third place (three points). The statistics teams are absolutely equal – 7/21 – but the opponents hit the decisive moment). After 69h75, the last offensive team in Latvia no longer had the freshness and coldness of the leaders.

The blackest boxes in the game statistics are: rebounds 25 – 38, points with repetitive scopes 6-21.

Another group I Turkey – Spain 71:67, Ukraine – Slovenia 82:54.

Arnis Vecvagars, head coach of the men's division of Latvia:

"A physically aggressive two-way game, a lot of fighting." We played two similar teams, the main reason for our failure being the defeat in the fight against the baskets, including the balls lost to our basket at the last minute. We knew it would be an important part of the game, but we did not stay focused throughout the game, there were also episodes where the players managed to get the basket, but the Montenegrins from the outside went very aggressively to the basket.

Of course, the game was influenced by technical and unsportsmanlike notes. Maybe in some episodes we were too aggressive.

There were also positive things, but now we have to prepare for the fight in Slovenia, taking the conclusions we will draw after a careful badysis. "

Head coach of Montenegro Zvezdan Mitrovič:

"I congratulate Latvia on its excellent arena atmosphere, and thank you to my players for this intelligent 40-minute game, which made it a big step on the road to the World Cup.

The final phase of the fight for the roadmap for the final of the World Cup in Spain will take place at the end of the winter. On February 23, the Spanish team will travel to Riga on February 26 for an outing to Montenegro. The top three teams of the group will go to the finals in China (August 31 – September 16).

Latvian men's basketball team against Montenegro

Team Management

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COOPERATION PARTNERS: PF "Ķekava", Circle-K, Citroen, Live Riga, Cargo LDz, Peak, Mangals, National Sport

Statistics of the Latvian State Department

World Cup Qualification. Group I

November 29th: Latvia – Montenegro 75:84, Turkey – Spain 71:67, Ukraine – Slovenia 82:54

December 2: Slovenia – Latvia, Spain – Ukraine, Montenegro – Turkey

Group J November 29th: Croatia – Hungary 74:69, Netherlands – Poland 78: 105, Italy – Lithuania 70:65. Situation in the table: Lithuania * 8-1, Italy 7-2, Poland 5-4, Hungary 4-5, Croatia 4-5, Netherlands 3-6. December 2: Hungary – Netherlands, Lithuania – Croatia, Poland – Italy.

Group K Situation in the table: France 7-1, Czech Republic * 7-1, Finland 4-4, Russia 4-4, Bulgaria 3-5, Bosnia 2-6. November 30th: Czech Republic – France, Finland – Russia, Bulgaria – Bosnia. December 3: France – Bulgaria, Bosnia – Finland, Russia – Czech Republic.

Group L Situation in the table: Germany * 8-0, Greece * 8-0, Serbia 5-3, Georgia 4-4, Israel 3-5, Estonia 2-6. November 30th: Israel – Serbia, Greece – Germany, Estonia – Georgia. December 3: Georgia – Israel, Germany – Estonia, Serbia – Greece.

The top three teams in each group qualify for the World Cup. * Teams who already have the right to play in the PK final.

At the 2019 World Cup, 32 teams will compete not only for the winner's cup and medals, but also for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo as well as Olympic qualifying tournaments.