It was a weekend of setbacks for Nigeria’s Basketball team, the D’Tigers as they have almost thrown away their chances of qualifying for the next FIBA Basketball World Cup. Cote d’Ivoire and Angola were the teams who have given a blow to Nigeria’s qualification hopes as they fail to win either of the two basketball superpowers and rivals in Africa.
As picking one of the two World Cup tickets is now in doubt, Former assistant coach of the team, Abdulrahman Mohamed did not hide his displeasure as he stated that the team was very shambolic in their loss to Angola and Cote D’Ivoire. “Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be what we expected. Even when we lost the game to Cote D’Ivoire in the opening game, we were all hopeful that if we are able to pick the game against Angola, it will still give us chance to qualify but losing to Angola, it’s shutdown every qualification window available. In the next window, if we are able to win the remaining matches, our destiny will still be in the hands of other teams”
Also, another former player of the Nigerian Basketball team, Stanley Gomut, has blamed poor preparation on the part of Nigeria for the poor performance of this basketball window of the qualifier. “One of these things is preparation. The players and the qualities are there but Nigeria never prepares for anything. We just make appearances and it’s difficult to beat a team like the Cote D’Ivoire team who have been together for a long time. I even played together with some of them in my playing days. Nigeria has over 300 to 400 that have played in the national team in the last ten years while Angola has about just 40. They work with a group that over time, they get to know each other. He concluded”.
28th August marked the end of Africa’s qualifier for window 4. The 5th window will take place in February 2023. The first two teams of every group will automatically qualify for next year’s World Cup and the best 3rd of all groups will have the 5th and last slot for Africa in the world cup which will be staged in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines. Nigeria shares the same group with Angola, Cape Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, and Uganda in Group E.
