Our men’s national team will play the second round of the qualification for the FIBA World Cup qualifiers over the next days. They will face Portugal and Sweden twice in a bubble in Portugal.
The program:
Friday (August 13th) Portugal – Luxembourg
Saturday (August 14th): Luxembourg – Sweden
Tuesday (August 17th): Luxembourg – Portugal
Wednesday (August 18th): Sweden – Luxembourg
All games are scheduled for 19:00!
Luxembourg is highly motivated and ready to keep making a name for itself , the FLBB-squad has the role of the underdog before the games, Luxembourg is ranked 71st in the FIBA World rankings, Portugal (58) and Sweden (54) are ranked higher. „Our opponents are extremely strong. Sweden has participated in the final round numerous times, they have professional players that are playing on a very high level in their club(s). Portugal has done a great job in the youth over the last years and they have very talented young players on their team. In order to have a chance to win a game, we need to play our best basketball, we know that. However, that is also our goal, we have our best possible team available, we are competitive and ambitious » says coach Ken Diederich.
After a short and intense preparation, our squad is currently getting ready for the first game. „We know each other, everybody is on the same page and a short preparation is not a problem for our team. The guys will also be ready for their clubs when the bubble is over so that the situation was ideal for us.“ (some impressions from the first practice –> Our men arrived in Portugal and are getting ready for game 1 on Friday )
Our roster:
Delgado Ivan (Etzella)
Grün Thomas (Gladiators Trier, Germany)
Gutenkauf Philippe (Etzella)
Melcher Bob (Amicale)
Kalmes Joé (T71)
Kovac Ben (Den Helder Suns, Netherlands)
Laurent Alex (Kortijk Spurs, Belgium)
Rugg Clancy (Basket Esch)
Vujakovic Oli (Tirol Raiders, Austria)
Wolff Mathis (Sparta)
Diederich Jonathan (Ehingen Urspring academy, Germany)
Verbeelen Yannick (Sparta)
Konen Tom (Amicale)
Head-coach: Ken Diederich
Assistant-coaches: Pit Rodenbourg, Denis Toroman
