BUENOS AIRES (Argentina) - Argentina have started the next phase of their preparations for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021 with a training camp including an 18-man squad featuring four foreign-based players and topped by Juan Francisco Fernandez. 

Argentina head coach Daniel Farabello called together the current group of players from May 20 and will be working with them until May 30.  The Argentineans held their first training camp at the CeNARD facility in Buenos Aires with 20 players from April 16-18.

Fernandez is considered one of Argentina's next biggest talents and he plays with Fuenlabrada in Spain, which meant he was unable to attend the first Argentina camp. Silvano Merlo is also in Spain with Valladolid while Gonzalo Corbalan and Pedro Rossi are both playing in the United States with Lubbock Christian University and DME Academy, respectively. None of that quartet was back in their homeland last month for the first round of preparations.

"This is an age group with lots of potential. There's talent, especially on the perimeter players where we have easily 10 players that should be in the 12-man roster. It's going to be difficult to determine who goes because there are many talented kids," Farabello said about his player pool. "In the paint, there are a few good kids, but there's a lack of height. It is something that we'll have to complement with some of our other virtues — as a team."

Argentina will be playing at the U19 World Cup for the 14th time in 15 editions, missing out only in 1987. The South Americans took third place in 1979 and 1991, but they haven't been back to the Semi-Finals other than 1999 and 2011, when they finished fourth both times.

The 2011 tournament also took place in Latvia, where the 2021 event will be played from July 3-11 in the cities of Daugavpils and Riga, where Argentina have been drawn into Group C along with France, Korea and Spain.

Fernandez will be one of the leaders of Argentina's effort - also because he already has experience on the global stage, having played at the U19 World Cup 2019 in Heraklion two years younger than the rest of the competition but still averaging 7.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.9 blocks. Fernandez also appeared at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2018 and collected 8.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.7 steals. In addition, Fernandez also participated at the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in 2020.

 
Also on the Argentina team at the U17 World Cup in their own country was Federico Copes, who is also in the U19 training camp. Mateo Diaz also played at the U17 World Cup and currently plays with Breogan in Spain. He will be a candidate for the team in Latvia but he could not make the training camp. Other foreign-based players in the same situation are Julian Lorca (Schoolhouse Prep, Miami,  United States), Augusto Roveres (Real Betis, Spain) and Lucas Sigismonti (Baskonia, Spain) . 

Coach Farabello has one more preparations camp planned for June when it is expected he will invite 16 to 18 players, from whom he will pick his final team for Latvia.

FIBA