Basketball World Cup
Motivation through change of location: DBB team ready for Manila
Johannes Thiemann (M) in action against Georgia’s Tronike Shengelia. photo
© Hiro Komae/AP/dpa
Okinawa is over, now only Manila counts. The German basketball players have to get used to a new World Cup venue. Schröder and his team are warned of the next opponent.
“Latvia is a very hot team that has already surprised one or the other. They go in as an underdog and have nothing to lose, they are a dangerous opponent,” said Johannes Thiemann about the opponent, who also played top players at the World Cup Kristaps Porzingis has to do without.
Even without the 2.21 meter tall giant, there were narrow victories over the Spaniards and the Olympic silver medalist France at the World Championships in Jakarta. Brazil was clearly beaten. The quarter-final duel between Germany and the uncomfortable Latvians will take place this Wednesday (10.45 a.m. / Magentasport) in Manila.
On the charter flight from Okinawa, Japan, to the capital of the Philippines, Dennis Schröder’s team was aware: Now the week of truth has begun, in addition to World Cup medals, the Olympic ticket for Paris 2024 is also at stake. “The change of location brings a push . That shows us: Now things are really getting started,” said Thiemann. The huge metropolis is not comparable to what has been experienced so far in Okinawa, as the German international added. “There’s a lot going on and the atmosphere is very different from Okinawa.”