Basketball: Does anyone dare not believe in this team?

Spain is the current world champion, a title achieved in 2019, and Europe, won in 2022.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
01 January 2023 Sunday 15:33
19 Reads
Basketball: Does anyone dare not believe in this team?

Spain is the current world champion, a title achieved in 2019, and Europe, won in 2022. Their results are phenomenal. Does anyone now dare not believe in this team with a view to the World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines? Because, by the hand of Sergio Scariolo, it goes from success to success. When he had big stars, because he was accompanied by the situation. And when he doesn't have them, because his spirit, his work ethic and the method of the selector pay off.

It is only necessary to look back at the gold obtained by surprise in the last European Championship, with the Hernangómez as spearheads. If in the last World Cup, China 2019, Ricky Rubio, voted best player of the tournament, and Marc Gasol, now president-player at Girona, were capitals, they were not at Eurobasket and Scariolo knew how to find the key with a group of day laborers seasoned with the incorporation of the nationalized Lorenzo Brown.

Between the end of August and the beginning of September, Spain will seek the most difficult yet to revalidate its crown. It won't be easy.

As always, the main favorite will be the United States, although it will be necessary to see which group they make up and if there are many resignations or not among the big stars. Americans tend to prioritize the Olympic Games before the World Cup and, for example, in the last one, they finished in a very indecent seventh place. Outside Europe, it will be necessary to take into account the usual powers such as Australia and Argentina, the teams that Spain beat in 2019 in the semifinals and in the final, respectively.

The draw for the final phase will take place on April 29 in Manila (Philippines). It will be then when the 32 participating teams will meet their opponents in the groups and what their path may be at the crossroads. The competition system includes two group phases and knockouts from the quarterfinals.

Spain sealed their qualification for the tournament in mid-November. It will be the eleventh consecutive participation of the Spanish team in a World Cup. He hasn't missed an appointment since 1978. Regularity is his main value.

Since Barça, led by Koeman, won the Copa del Rey in 2021, the Barcelona team has not celebrated winning any title. Eliminated from the Champions League, they aspire to regain the throne in the League as their main objective until the end of the season. He is also chasing the Copa del Rey and the Europa League, although, temporarily, the first title at stake will be the Spanish Super Cup, which will take place between January 11 and 15 in Saudi Arabia. With the investment made, Barça wants to recover the path of success.

If anyone had questioned the future of Rafael Nadal in the medium term, here is a message to the contrary: in mid-December, the Spaniard confirmed his presence at the Godó Trophy in Barcelona next spring. The news is magnificent, a blessing for the people of the RCTB (Nadal could face Carlos Alcaraz in Pedralbes), but also for tennis lovers in general: now that Roger Federer has disappeared, the first two rackets of the present are still standing , ready to give the world a magnificent generational battle.

Last season it was shown that Max Verstappen has no rival in Formula 1. The Red Bull man defended the title with 15 wins in 22 races and this 2023 will obviously be the driver to beat. The main alternative to the Dutchman will once again be Ferrari, with Leclerc and Sainz under the orders of a new director, the Frenchman Fred Vasseur. For his part, Fernando Alonso will begin his penultimate adventure in the great circus with Aston Martin. The season, which will take place between March 5 and November 26, will feature 24 races, the all-time high, and a test in Las Vegas is added.

A swimming legend was dismounted last summer, while the World Cups in Budapest were taking place: after having collected two golds, Caeleb Dressel (26) announced that he was leaving the championship, overcome by anxiety and depression, to retire to the winter quarters and prepare for the future. The future is this 2023 that will take us to the Fukuoka World Cups, the championship that now opens before the best swimmer of the present, the man who had collected five golds at the Tokyo 2020 Games, the heir to Michael Phelps.

Budapest, which last summer hosted the swimming family, will host the athletics family in 2023. The World Cups of the discipline recover their position in the calendar, in an odd year and in the middle of summer. Gone are the distortions caused by the pandemic. At the head of the bill are the new generations, actually already consolidated, led by pole vaulter Armand Duplantis (the new Bubka), hurdler Sydney McLaughlin (also considering the 400m dash) and middle-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

After succumbing in the 2022 Tour de France against the Danish Thomas Vingegaard, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar will return even stronger if possible to try to achieve his third Grande Boucle. His main opponents will be the current winner, with the Jumbo tucking him in, and the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, winner of the Tour of Spain this year. As for the Spaniards, Enric Mas will be the one with the most options for the podium, without losing sight of the possible definitive explosion of Juan Ayuso or Carlos Rodríguez, the two strongest promises of our cycling.