MIAMI (United States) – The excitement of international basketball is back as the second window of the FIBA ​​Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers tips off on Thursday 24 of February. The window will be played until the 28th in six different venues: Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and USA.

This part of the qualifying schedule is crucial in the national teams’ aspirations because it will begin to give us a glimpse of who will head towards the second phase.

Will undefeated teams stay dominant? And can others catch up? Mark your calendars because you won’t want to miss these matchups:

Argentina vs. Venezuela (Group A) – February 25

Both Argentina and Venezuela sit on top of Group A after winning their first two matches. Now they will meet in Buenos Aires. However, Argentina may not have an absolute home court advantage in Obras Sanitarias. In the first window, we saw an impacting turnout from the Venezuelan community currently residing in Argentina, and they could be expected to support in the second window.

Another interesting aspect is the presence of Néstor "Che" García as Argentina’s head coach. García was at the helm for Venezuela for several years and led them to a FIBA ​​Americas Championship title in 2015 and during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. If anyone knows Venezuelans very well, it’s “Che”.

In their most recent clashes, at the FIBA ​​AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers, both teams managed a win apiece and each on the road. This time the winner will take a good stride towards the next round.

Brazil vs. Uruguay (Group B) – February 25

This will be another duel of undefeated leaders (2-0) in which neither will want to take home their first loss. Brazil will start as favorites in the city of Franca, even more so if we take into account the most recent matches between the two at the AmeriCup Qualifiers in which the Brazilians prevailed. But since then, things have changed for Brazil. The coach is now Gustavo Conti and while it is true that he knows his players quite well, he is still in search of identity as a group.

On the contrary, Uruguay have already been working with Argentine coach Rubén Magnano for some time, who has not hesitated to give several young players greater prominence and has raised the team to a higher level. It will be a great challenge for the Uruguayans to survive the Brazilian defense, which is so far the best, barely allowing 54.0 points per game.

Canada vs. Dominican Republic (Group C) – February 26

Both undefeated squads bring together a wealth of talent and know each other very well. In recent years they have met at the World Cup 2019 Qualifiers and in the AmeriCup 2022 Qualifiers. In those games they came out with two victories per side, so we can expect a fair battle in Santo Domingo.

In the first window, Canada faced the Bahamas and based their game mainly on the perimeter by scoring 34 three-pointers with a very high effectiveness of 44 percent, and became leaders in that category. The Dominicans, on the other hand, faced the Virgin Islands and ran the court more (23.0 points on average in fast break). We’ll see who’s strategy will come out on top.

United States vs. Mexico (Group D) – February 27

Mexico defended home court in the first window and will arrive in Washington D.C. as the Group D leaders and the only undefeated team with wins against the United States and Puerto Rico. Now it’s the Americans' turn to host and they will look to bounce back and try to get to the top of the group.

Mexico has been a challenging opponent for the US, winning two of the last five matches. The team, led by coach Omar Quintero, seems to have improved but will have to show that the first window was not a coincidence.

The United States cannot afford to fall again because they could put themselves in a compromising position. It’s unlikely that the top team in the FIBA ​​World Ranking won’t be able to bounce back, but never say never.

FIBA