To the delight of the patriots

Our basketball players defeated the Czech Republic without the American Holden

The Russian men's team, led by David Blatt, successfully completed the qualifying round for the 2007 European Championship. Thanks to an away victory over the Czech Republic in the city of Opava - 68:55, our team took first place in Group C and received a ticket to Spain. The official debut of an Israeli with an American passport as head coach of the national team can be considered satisfactory.

Even in the event of a defeat from the Czech Republic, Blatt's charges would not have been outside the Euro 2007 award applicants - too many conditions would have to come together for the Russians from second place to not get a ticket to the Iberian Peninsula. But no one in the team was doing any calculations, the focus was only on winning, because the disappointing away failure in the first round with Belgium still remains a thorn in the souls of the players and their coach. Naturalized American John Holden, the most productive player of our team in previous meetings, did not arrive in Opava. The reason is more than valid - a new addition to the family. However, even without Holden, the Russian squad looked like a completely combat-ready team.

The first half of the game passed with varying degrees of success and overall an equal fight. The hosts went into the long break with a four-point lead. Immediately after the rest, Benes' three-point shot reached the goal, and the Czechs took the lead 38:31. Thanks to the efforts of Nikolai Padius and Alexey Savrasenko, the Russians equalized the score a few minutes later, but again allowed their opponents to go ahead - 45:41 with 3.55 left in the third quarter. And the figure of 45 points scored became a dead point for our opponents. The Russians played the segment at the end of this period and at the beginning of the next just perfectly - 16:0. The hosts never recovered from this knockout.

The best match in this qualifying round was played in Opava by the national team's recent debutant, powerful forward Fedor Dmitriev. He led the winners with 14 points, and all six of his field goals, including one from long range, were accurate. On defense, the Russians managed to neutralize Lubos Barton, who brought his team 27 points in the Perm match. On the site of the Opava Sports Palace it turned out exactly three times less.

The winners of the first stage of selection for Euro 2007 were Poland, Portugal, Russia and Croatia. Sweden, Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Latvia took second place. Our Saturday opponents and the Baltic states, who will also go to Spain, have the best additional results (four wins against three each). Following the results of the previous continental championship, Greece, Germany, France, Lithuania and Slovenia were exempted from qualification. Despite the fact that Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey, together with Israel, finished in 9th-12th places, that is, even lower than Croatia and Russia, the first three teams also did not participate in the selection as participants in the World Championships in Japan, where they got there thanks to receiving a wild card. In principle, in the Euro 2007 system there is a violation of all kinds of sporting principles. It turns out that Russia, not invited to the Land of the Rising Sun, could have suffered twice.

The losers of the first stage - Sweden, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Israel, Hungary, Belgium, Estonia and Denmark - are vying for the last, 16th ticket to Spain. They will be divided into three groups - two teams of three and one more quartet. The winners will form a new tournament, which will be held immediately before the start of the Spanish forum. The best member of this trio will remain in the Pyrenees.

John Holden became the top scorer in the qualifying cycle in terms of average performance - 23.0 points per game. He also holds the sniper record in a single match - 33 points against Belgium away. The Russian American is also among the top three in terms of field goal percentage - 61.3. But in terms of rebounds, the Russian team is only 12th out of 16 participants in the tournament. The main sensation of the main qualifying session was the entry of the Portuguese team into the final part of the European Championship. This happened for the first time since 1951 (!). Let us recall that two years ago, during the selection process, the southerners managed to upset the Russian national team at home, which was then led by president and head coach Sergei Elevich - 91:83. Last Saturday, the Portuguese secured first place in the group by defeating Israel 69:49.

Ilya TRISVIATSKY