MUNICH (Germany) - With three games gone, there's a three-way tie at the top of Group A. But even though they are all but qualified for the Second Round, Belgium, Serbia and Latvia are not going to relax for one minute, knowing that every point counts on the road to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

The format is the same as four years ago. Top three teams from each group advance, but they carry over all of their results from the first group phase, meaning: better record and points' difference, better chances of being one of 12 teams from the continent to travel to the summit.

That's why Serbia's 75-63 win over Slovakia is rock solid.

"My players were full of determination to win the game, win it straight away, and win it by 20 points. But I'm going to tell you right now, you're all going to have to wait for some time until we start winning games by 20," Serbian head coach Svetislav Pesic explained.

That 12-point win puts Serbia at 2-1, +9, a fine starting point if the Second Round started today. Even though Pesic expects a similar kind of game in three days' time in Slovakia, he's more than confident his team will grow with each practice.

"I am really happy to see the guys react the way they did. We had 21 second chance points, that shows how much they wanted this win, and the way we won the game is also important, with no panic at all to end the game," the experienced playcaller added.

The FIBA EuroBasket 2017 runners up have slipped up before in the Qualifiers. They know they can't do it again, because Belgium and Latvia are right up there at 2-1, the same record as Serbia after the first three games of the First Round.

That's what makes the reverse fixture against Slovakia a tricky one. Not just because Oleg Meleshchenko's men were within striking distance in Belgrade, but also because the three-way tie at the top actually takes all the pressure off of 0-3 Slovakia now.

"They've got nothing to lose against us," Marko Jagodic-Kuridza sent out a captain's warning to his teammates after getting 13 points and 6 rebounds in this win.

While Serbia took care of business in Belgrade, Latvia and Belgium played what only could be described as the Bittersweet Derby in Mons, Belgium. Both teams can be satisfied and disappointed at the same time.

For Latvia, it all looked ideal: up 18 on the road, up by double digits late in the fourth quarter, about to make a serious leap towards the tiebreaker over Belgium. But instead of enjoying a comfortable win with Second Round implications, Luca Banchi's only pulled off a 66-65 win.

Should Belgium be happy with just a single point loss after that -18 hole? Not really, no. Because Retin Obasohan and Hans Vanwijn had a chance to win the game on final possession, only to fumble the ball and lose on home court.

"For me, this is a missed opportunity," Vanwijn said.

He is right. Belgium could've been up at 3-0, they could've put two games between themselves and Latvia, and could've already had solid chances of pole position ahead of the Second Round. Instead, they have to travel to Riga to avoid a Latvian sweep on the road.

Coach Dario Gjergja will see a bigger picture.

"I'm very proud of my guys for the second half. They didn't give up for one second. They were fighting, trying to be there. It's not going to be easy to play (in Riga), but we showed that we can play with everybody," the Croat at the Belgian helm said.

Belgium can play with everybody. A sentence that wasn't on the horizon four years ago, when they were eliminated after the First Round and sent to the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Pre-Qualifiers.

Now, even with this bitter one-point defeat, Belgium own the top of the group at 2-1, +29. A record worthy of respect from their bigger-name opponents in Serbia and Latvia, who will be looking to close the gap in the remaining fixtures with the ultimate goal of qualifying for the World Cup in mind.

FIBA