Basketball: The end of Poles’ dreams of the World Cup. Defeat in Germany

• For Poles who were quarterfinalists of the previous World Championships, the match in Bremen was directly decisive for the further fight for next year’s championship
• However, even taking into account the Poles’ victory 90:85 against Israel three days earlier, Germany seemed to be the favorite
• After the change of sides, the game was still close, but with a slight initiative of the locals
• After the failure in the first round of the qualifying round of the World Cup, Poles will not be free in the coming months
• More similar information can be found on the Onet homepage

For Poles who were quarterfinalists of the previous World Championships, the match in Bremen was directly decisive for the further fight for the next year’s championship. They were not dependent on others, they did not have to count on a favorable result of the second Israel-Estonia match of this round. It was enough “only” to win on the court floor of the best team of group D, which had already secured the first place. However, she could not let go, because all the results from the first are included in the second round.

Even taking into account the Poles’ victory 90:85 against Israel three days earlier, the Germans seemed to be the favorite. Both teams played in stronger squads than in November last year in Lublin (the visitors’ triumph 72:69), but the reinforcements in the team led by Canadian Gordon Herbert were greater. Compared to that match, Slaughter and Mateusz Ponitka appeared in the Polish team, but the German one was joined, among others, by Johannes Voigtmann, who has been playing in the Euroleague for many years, and recently Isaac Bonga and the aforementioned Schröder.

And it was this second, 28-year-old son of a German and Gambian that was a big problem for Poles. Already in the first half, he scored 18 points, and his team was leading by 40:36. The difference in favor of the hosts was similar to the difference in Schröder’s shooting match with Slaughter. An American with a Polish passport had 16 points on his account after 20 minutes, but with a much better effectiveness of throws from the game. He and Ponitka kept the guests in the game for victory.

After the change of sides, the game was still close, but with a slight initiative of the locals. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the excellent part of the reserve quarterback Jakub Schenk (seven points in a row) made the Poles jump at 65:60. They lost the lead for a while, but found themselves back in the front (78:76) after Slaughter’s three. Schröder replied with two successful long-range shots and the result was 82:78. When Voigtmann added half a minute to the end (which was his first accurate throw from the game), Germany was already leading by 87:82. The Poles did not manage to make up for the loss.

After the failure in the first round of the qualifying round of the World Cup, Poles will not be free in the coming months. In September, EuroBasket 2022 was postponed from last year, and in August, the second round of preliminary qualifications for … the next EuroBasket begins. Unfortunately, with the participation of Poland.

World Cup 2023 ELIMINATIONS

1. ROUND

GROUP D

GERMANY – POLAND 93:83 (19:19, 21:17, 17:20, 36:27)

GERMANY: Dennis Schroder 38, Christian Sengfelder 15, David Krämer 12, Gavin Schilling 8, Johannes Voigtmann 6, Isaac Bonga 5, Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann 4, Kenneth Ogbe 3, Justus Hollatz 2, Lukas Wank

POLAND: AJ Slaughter 32, Mateusz Ponitka 14, Michał Sokołowski 13, Aleksander Balcerowski 7, Jakub Schenk 7, Jarosław Zyskowski 4, Jakub Garbacz 3, Tomasz Gielo 2, Dominik Olejniczak 1, Michał Kolenda 0