Late in the evening on Saturday, August 27, the Ukrainian men’s team, having failed to hold a victory over Italy in Riga, held in Reykjavik, the capital of the island nation of Iceland, the second match of the second round of the 2023 World Cup qualification against the local national team.
2023 World Cup qualification
Iceland - Ukraine - 91:88 OT (14:19, 22:22, 27:14, 17:25, 11:8)
Ukraine: Mikhailyuk (19 points), Zotov (12), Bobrov (11), Gemini, Pustovoy, Tkachenko (10 each), Lukashov (7), Gerun (5), Sloth (4), Voinalovich, Krutous, Sidorov.
The wards of Ainars Bagatskis started the fight with a bang, after five minutes of a quarter they took the lead - 17:7. True, then our guys “stalled”, but still went for a short break with a big advantage - 19:14.
In the second ten-minute period, the teams were more productive, and in an equal fight ended it in a draw, while the Ukrainians retained an advantage of five points - 41:36.
The big break benefited the hosts, but our guys seemed to be leaving the locker room for a long time. As a result, as in the last match with Italy, the third quarter was a failure (14:27) - and 55:63 in favor of our opponent before the final ten minutes.
With its beginning, the “yellow-blues” enthusiastically began to correct the situation, first reducing the gap to two points, and then even equalizing the score at the equator of the quarter – 71:71. The score was even with the final siren - 80:80, so the winner had to be determined in overtime. Here, unfortunately, the owners turned out to be more reasonable and successful - as they say, houses and walls help. As a result, 91:88 - the victory of Iceland.
Our representative in the NBA Svyatoslav Mikhailyuk became the most productive player of the Ukrainian national team - 19 points, Elvar Fridriksson, who plays in Lithuania for Lietuvos Rytas, scored the most among the Icelanders - 27 points.
In two more matches of the game day, the Netherlands lost at home to Spain - 64:86, and Italy in a tense confrontation broke the resistance of Georgia - 91:84.
Command positions: 1. Spain - 11 points; 2. Italy - 11; 3. Iceland - 10; 4. Georgia - 9; 5. Ukraine - 7; 6. Netherlands - 6.
In the next qualifying match, the Ukrainian national team will play on November 11 away with the outsider of the group, the Dutch (recall that the three best teams in the group will make it to the final stage of the World Cup), and before that, in the beginning - in mid-September, they will play in the final tournament of EuroBasket 2022.
Earlier, FACTS reported that a two-time Olympic basketball champion from the United States was sentenced in Russia to nine years in prison.
Photo fiba.com
Source: Fakty
