Final in Riga and then… World Cup for the National Team

Riga will be her final destination National team in the Second Phase of the World Cup qualifiers.

The representative group has already stamped its presence in their stadiums Japan, Philippines and Indonesia next summer and will face Latvia (19:30, www.sportfm.gr, Novasports 4)for the last game in the packed “Riga Arena”, as it has been announced sold out.

The “official favorite” is in second place in the group with a record 6-3while on the other hand the Baltic team has “locked” the first place, since they are in the excellent 8-1. In the first round match, which took place in Heraklion and in the “windows” of November, Latvia had won by an impressive score 80-60 against the national team.

Beyond that, Greece got a very big result last weekend, although it was indifferent in terms of points. Specifically, beat Serbia in overtime 97-92 in the closed area of ​​Ano Liosia. The main protagonist was Nikos Rogavopoulos with 28 points. However, the Merkezefendi international forward he did not travel with the expedition to Riga, as he felt discomfort in his quadriceps. Except, also, there will still be the Yiannis Kouzeloglou, Giorgos Tsalbouris, Vassilis Charalambopoulos and Homeris Netzipoglou.

Therefore, the available for the Sotiris Manolopoulos they are: Kostas Gondikas, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, Dimitris Katsivelis, Lefteris Mantzoukas, Vassilis Mouratos, Dimitris Moraitis, George Papas, Giorgos Tanoulis, Vassilis Toliopoulos, Dimitris Flionis, Manolis Hatzidakis, Nikos Hougaz.

On the contrary, Latvia is one of the best and most impressive teams in the World Cup qualifiers. And that’s because, it has just one defeat throughout the process and that was against Serbia in the premier of Phase 1.

Since then, his team Luca Banki is riding a ten-game winning streak. He was last against the Turkey last weekend. In the match that took place in Bursa, Latvia was superior to its neighbors, prevailing 83-74. As far as the competitive part is concerned, Luca Banki is expected to be deprived of his services Arthurs Zagars, who left injured in the previous match. Janis Tima and Janis Strelnieks are also missing from the roster, but Rodion Kuruks was included.

The dozen in detail: Rodion Kourouks (Strasbourg), Renars Birkans (Liepaja), Dairis Bertans (Betis), Arturs Strautins (Reggio Emilia), Artis Ate (Riga), Clav Chavar (Start Lublin), Eigars Skele (Stel), Andres Grazulis (Trento), Martins Laksa (Yonava), Mark Steinberg (Manresa), Andrej Pasetsnik (Betis), Tom Leimanis (Estudiantes).