Italy name Turin as venue for Romania game, also announce 24-man squad
TURIN (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Italy have announced they will host Romania in Turin in the opening FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifier for both sides on November 24.
Gli Azzurri a Torino per le qualificazioni al Mondiale 2019! Oggi il CT Sacchetti darà la lista dei 24 @FIBA #Italbasket pic.twitter.com/7F09EdoJ2Z
— Italbasket (@Italbasket) October 18, 2017
The Italians, choosing to return to the city where they hosted one of the three 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, will be looking to build on a solid showing at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 in Tel Aviv and Istanbul. At this summer's event, the Azzurri reached the Quarter-Finals before falling to Serbia.
Italy, who will face Croatia on November 26 in Zagreb, also on Wednesday revealed their 24-man squad for the two World Cup qualifiers with nine members of the EuroBasket roster included.
| The 24-man Italy squad ahead of World Cup Qualifiers against Romania and Croatia | ||||
| Awudu Abass | Pietro Aradori | Filippo Baldi Rossi | Paul Biligha | Christian Burns |
| Andrea Crosariol | Luigi Datome | Andrea De Nicolao | Amedeo Della Valle | Ariel Filloy |
| Diego Flaccadori | Simone Fontecchio | Raphael Gaspardo | Alessandro Gentile | Marco Giuri |
| Daniel Lorenzo Hackett | Antonio Iannuzzi | Nicolo Melli | David Albright Okeke | Achille Polonara |
| Giampaolo Ricci | Brian Sacchetti | Luca Vitali | Andrea Zerini | |
At the short preparations before the Romania game, Sacchetti will have 16 players.
Turin is a special place for recently appointed coach Romeo "Meo" Sacchetti. The 69-year-old played professionally in the city and later launched his coaching career at Auxilium Torino in 1979.
"I wore the national shirt and I know what value it has," said Sacchetti, who has taken the reins from Ettore Messina. "I am convinced that every player must have the dream to come to the national team. I have the memory of players who waived the invitation to take holidays but this message has always bothered me.
"We need to recover the value of the Azzurri. We will have half a new team and it will not be easy, but nothing is easy. But we have to qualify for the World Cup.
"The World Cup is the way to get to the Olympics (Tokyo 2020), which I consider to be an aim for every athlete."
Paul Biligha is among the EuroBasket players in Sacchetti's squad
Sacchetti played for Italy's team that claimed the silver medal at the 1980 Olympics. He then helped the Azzurri capture the FIBA EuroBasket crown in 1983. After featuring for the Italians at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where the national side came in fifth, Sacchetti and Italy were third at the FIBA EuroBasket in 1985.
In addition to facing the Romanians and Croatians in Group D, the Italians will take on the Netherlands. Their first game against the Dutch will be in Italy on February 23 with a venue yet to be announced.
FIBA
