Turkey eyes quarters berth as it takes on mediocre France

After six days of hard work in the preliminary groups, the 16 best teams out of four groups continue to struggle in a quest for world title glory.

With their perfect record, an unbeaten Turkey is ready to clash with France -- which does a good job without San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker.

Turkey is one of three undefeated teams, along with Group B’s US and Group D’s Lithuania. The team had a fast start to the tournament in their opening game against Group C’s weakest link, Cote d’Ivoire -- defeating the African side 86-47. In their second groups match, host Turkey beat Russia 65-56 and kept the upper hand throughout the match.

The following clash with Greece, one of the tournament’s top favorites, was not as challenging as expected. The “12 Giant Men” clinched another victory over their high-ranking opponent 76-65, with 26 points from Milwaukee Bucks forward Ersan İlyasova. Having defeated their top two rivals in the group, a relieved Turkey was seriously challenged in the fourth game against Puerto Rico.

The Turks edged past the South American side 79-77 to secure a deserved top spot in the group. In the fifth game on Thursday, Turkey had nothing at stake – but they still dominated the game, crushing the Asian side in a convincing 87-40 victory.

Having every reason to be high spirited, Turkey seems to be giving their fans something to cheer about. “They became our sixth player and they give us energy, especially in defense,” Tanjevic said about the fans who have wholeheartedly supported the team throughout their games at the Ankara Arena.

All roads lead to Sinan Erdem Dome

Turkey will take on France today at İstanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome, which will be host to all matches starting from the knock-out stage. France made a sensational start to the tournament by beating defending champion Spain 72-66 but then stumbled into two consecutive loses to take the fourth, and last, berth in the round of 16. New Zealand was originally expected to become Turkey’s opponent in the knock-out stage because a victory of less than 12 points against France would push the New Zealanders to fourth in the group. But the Kiwis took third spot with a three-pointer with just six seconds left on the clock.

“There are no weak teams from this point on. But we are stronger, because we are the host. The entire squad is focused on victory. We will use everything we have. The opponent doesn’t matter now. France is a very good team,” the Turkish team’s administrational manager Barbaros Akkuş told reporters after they landed in İstanbul for the knock-out games. He also added that Turkey aimed to advance to the semis and earn another medal just like they did in 2001, when Turkey won a silver medal in the European Basketball Championship -- which they also hosted.

Against France, Turkey will rely on its top-scorer İlyasova who, with an average of 16.5 points for the tournament, is also in the tournament’s top-10 high scorers. İlyasova also has the second highest number of rebounds, while his teammate Ömer Aşık has the fifth. Hidayet “Hedo” Türkoğlu from Phoenix Suns will be another of Turkey’s weapons.

In the closing game of the day, Slovenia clashes with Australia. The European side finished Group B in second place after the US, suffering one defeat. The Australian Boomers, on the other hand, finished Group A in third place, behind Serbia and Argentina.

USA vs. Angola, Russia vs. New Zealand tomorrow

These teams vie to advance to the quarter finals after the single-elimination round, which will start Sept. 7. Yesterday’s matches featured old foes Serbia and Croatia in the opening game of the round. In the Balkan derby, the rivals Serbia and Croatia faced off as independent nations for the first time. Another Saturday match was between two top-favorites Spain and Greece, who both suffered surprising defeats in the preliminary group games. Spain defeated Greece in the last worlds in Japan and won the title.

A young and undersized US will take on Angola tomorrow. Finishing Group B in top place, the Americans have only been challenges once so far. The team edged out unlucky Brazil 70-68. The Angolans, who came fourth in Group A, will not be a serious opponent for US while the African side makes it to the top 16 for the second straight world championship. The reigning African champion lost all five games at the 2008 Olympic Games, where they were defeated by the Redeem Team of the USA.

In another game of the day, Russia will face New Zealand. Russia finished Group C in the second spot under Turkey after they defeated Greece 73-69 on Thursday.

Unbeaten Lithuania takes on China on Tuesday. The last game of the knock-out stage features a South American derby between top-ranked Argentina and Brazil -- who gave a hard time to the US. The Brazilian team’s coach Ruben Magnano guided his native Argentina to the title of 2004 Olympics after a victory over the US. He will face former students on Tuesday.

Live on TV today

NTV Spor

Slovenia vs. Australia     18:00

Turkey vs. France     21:00