A new cycle begins for our continent’s basketball with the start of the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Qualifying Windows. A total of 16 national teams will compete to get one of the 12 available spots for the important tournament.

The squads representing their countries will be divided into four groups of four teams each. The best three, after three windows, will get their ticket.

Group A will feature Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela, rivals with recent history. Chileans, Colombians, and Venezuelans were in the same group in the past FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers. At the time, the maroon jerseys dominated the four games. Now, Argentina is joining them after being second in the world and will surely establish their supremacy.

The Argentines and Venezuelans have attended in recent years. They starred in the continental final in Mexico 2015, where Venezuela took the title for the first time, and they met again in the FIBA AmeriCup 2017, where the South Americans had their revenge in the group phase in Bahia Blanca.

This Thursday, February 20, in San Luis, and after their match the 23rd in Caracas, they'll play again to move forward in this new challenge.

Argentina will have in its ranks three icons that played in the most recent FIBA Basketball World Cup: Máximo Fjellerup, Agustín Caffaro, and Tayavek Gallizzi. Also joining them is one that plays in the Spanish league, Juan Pablo Vaulet. The rest of the group built by coach Sergio Hernández comprises local league players with proven talent and international experience. Some of these are: Selem Safar, Facundo Piñero, and Roberto Acuña, as well as San Lorenzo stars José Vildoza and Luciano González.

In Venezuela, another Argentine coach, Fernando Duró, called the World Cup nucleus back, with figures like Heissler Guillent, brothers José and Gregory Vargas, Néstor Colmenares, Miguel Ruiz, and others, but also included several new faces like Enderson Alcalá, Fernando Fuenmayor, and Adrián Espinoza.

As a matter of fact, there are two working groups – one in Argentina, for the first game, and another in Venezuela. After that first encounter in San Luis, several players will go back with coach Duró to Caracas to join part of the other group and build the definitive team for the second game.

Meanwhile, Chile and Colombia will play on February 20 in Valdivia and the 23rd in Tunja. These will be two interesting matches because whoever is favored could gain an advantageous position toward the qualification.

In their recent games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup China 2019 Qualifiers, they divided the wins, and both matches were very close. Expectations are that this time around, it'll be somewhat the same.

Chile will be led by Argentine coach Cristian Santander and his fellow compatriot, Carlos Duró, will assist him. For these events, they considered well-known players like Sebastián Suárez, Gerardo Isla, Franco Morales, Ignacio Carrión, Juan Fontena, and Sebastián Herrera.

"It's all been very positive at the start of the training sessions. I was able to talk to Cristian and Carlos, and they're very aware of things. The games against Colombia will be tough, but if we play as a team and give it all in the court, we'll have great chances,” said Herrera to the Chilean Federation's website.

Colombia will feature Juan Tello Palacio, Tonny Trocha, Hanner Mosquera, Hansel Atencia, Gianlucca Bacci, and veteran player Stalin Ortiz. However, Braian Angola, who's just joined Serbian team Partizán, won't be able to attend, as won't Michael Jackson. Their absence leaves the offense without two of their leading figures, but coaches Guillermo Moreno and Tomás Díaz are confident that they can get the job done.

As for Group B, the fight will be between Brazil, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Just like in the previous bracket, three of these teams were part of the same pool of the World Cup Qualifiers, so the memory of their games is still fresh on everyone's minds.

Panama, who’ll have Puerto Rican coach David Rosario back on the bench, will try to repeat the same formula used against Paraguay in the matches before the World Cup. During those Qualifiers, the Central Americans won comfortably in their two encounters.

The Panamanians will have Tony Bishop, Javier Carter, and Akil Mitchell, all of whom play in Europe. Other names appearing in the roster are Jamal Levy, Ernesto Oglieve, Gabriel Girón, Josymar Ayarza, Alejandro Grant, and Tyler Gaskins. Trevor, Tyler’s brother, won't attend due to an injury.

Coach Rosario has complete confidence in his players: “We’ll have a responsible group to face this window against the Paraguayans,” said the coach to midiario.com.

As for the Guarani men, they expect to turn around their situation and win the duels taking place the 21st at Panama City’s Roberto Durán Arena, and then the 24th at Asunción’s SND Arena.

“We're going in with a lot of hope and to give it all on the court with the tools we have at hand, like we usually do – full of pride of representing our country,” said captain Bruno Zanotti to newspaper ABC Color.

Besides Zanotti, Argentine coach Juan Pablo Feliú has in his ranks Diego Bareiro, Jorge Sequera, Diego Lesme, Edgar Riveros, and others.

Another one of the event’s strong contentions will be Brazil vs. Uruguay – a South American classic. First, they’ll meet on February 21, at São José de Pinhais; and then, they’ll face each other the 24th at Montevideo’s Antel Arena.

Croatian coach Aleksandar Petrović built a group with mostly new players but included some veterans. The squad is led by World Cup players Rafa Luz and Yago Mateus, who are joined by Brazilian League stars Lucas Dias, Jhonatan Dos Santos, Rafael Mineiro, and Georginho De Paula.

“We have to be ready. There are a lot of young players in the group that want to show our country that the new generation has the capability of sustaining a good international level. We’ll do everything possible for people to feel proud of this evolution we've seen in Brazil in recent years,” said the team's captain for this event, Rafa Luz, to the Brazilian Confederation's media.

Uruguay didn't stay behind, and coach Edgardo Kogan organized a squad that will almost entirely feature renowned figures, except for Mathias Calfani, who's injured. Men like Esteban Batista, Bruno Fitipaldo, Luciano Parodi, and Gustavo Barrera will be present for their country.

"I always expect the best performance, considering the few days of work we'll have. The results will be the consequence of the strategy we’ll be able to develop in court, as well as the level of the players. Hopefully, we can rescue points to build our participation in the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 as soon as we can and continue to develop our capabilities," said Kogan to news outlet El Observador.

Reiner Izturriaga
FIBA