CARACAS (FIBA Basketball World Cup Americas Qualifiers 2019) – The Dominican Republic are very close to securing their qualification to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. They need another victory to reach their goal, but if they suffer a defeat, they still have enormous possibilities of going because their goal average favors them in case they tie with Uruguay or Puerto Rico, the two other teams that still have options in the group.

The rivals to the Dominicans on Monday (starting at 8:30 PM local game time) at Santo Domingo’s Palacio de los Deportes will be no other than Brazil, who are in good shape and have just imposed their presence in China after winning the previous game against the Virgin Islands.

The Amazons join Argentina, Canada, the United States and Venezuela as the representatives of the Americas in the tournament that will take place this year in Asian lands. But, despite their qualification, Croatian coach Aleksandar Petrović assured that they’ll go out to get the win.

“It's going to be an important game because it’ll be in an environment that won’t favor us. I want to see how some of our young players respond to this situation,” explained the coach after defeating the Virgin Islands.

The Dominicans don’t want to let the opportunity to go to their third and second consecutive World Cup fly by (Spain 2014 and Philippines 1978) and want to celebrate at home with their fans. Because of this, coach Melvyn López warned that they must keep calm enough to be able to execute their plans.

“We must try to improve the anxiety. These guys want to do things well and we're working on improving that, but it's not that easy when you go out to a full venue and you want to give a victory to your country,” he declared.

Brazil hold an 8-3 record and are third in Group F. The Dominican Republic are fourth, with a 7-4 balance. For the Americas, there will be seven teams representing the continent in the World Cup. The two spots left will be decided between the Dominicans, the Puerto Ricans and the Uruguayans.

FIBA