Now on European soil, Leo Gutiérrez’s team is completing the final stage of preparations for the international competition to be held in Malaga. The first appearance will be on Saturday morning against Egypt.
Countdown to the men’s national under-17 team ahead of the World Cup, which will take place from 2 to 10 July in Malaga. The Argentine delegation is settling in European territory, and will finalize the details of preparations for the first time next Saturday. For that, he toured France where he played two friendlies against the host, one of the strong forces in coaching and starting as a favorite in Malaga.
After a wide lineup at La Banda, Argentina confirmed their lineup and left for Europe. The first destination was Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, in northeastern France, for two friendlies. The first submission was on Saturday afternoon, as the boys fell 89-59 with 11 points from Thiago Drucheschi and 9 from Lucas Giovanniti. The next day, France’s victory was again 105-38.
With the FIFA U-17 World Cup looming, Argentina will now determine their course for Malaga. There it will include Group D, along with Australia, Egypt and Poland. The first comes from the dedication of the Asian Championship champion last week and starts as one of the other candidates in the competition. Meanwhile, Egypt was the host and champion of the FIBA Africa U16 tournament, which was held last year in Cairo. Meanwhile, Poland achieved the classification by the European U16 Challengers, a venue-qualified format different from the norm, but which had to be played that way for health reasons.
And the long-awaited debut will be next Saturday at 10:30 am Argentina time, in front of Egypt. After the three-match group stage, all teams advance to the Round of 16, where the knockout stage kicks off. Argentina will try to get as high as possible in its region and then cross with a member of the third group made up of the United States, Mali, Slovenia and Lebanon. All matches can be watched live on the FIBA YouTube channel.
It is worth noting that at the last moment the national team had to make a change due to injury. Thomas Fernandez-Lange suffered an adductor muscle injury and was replaced by Tiziano Brum.
Timetable (Argentina time)
Saturday 02/07
10:30 AM – Argentina vs Egypt
Sunday 03/07
10:30 AM – Poland vs Argentina
Monday 04/07
day off
Tuesday 05/07
8:00 am – Australia vs Argentina
Wed 07/06
round of 16
Image source: Vosges Basketball Committee