Late in the evening on Saturday, August 27, the men’s national team of Ukraine, having failed to win against Italy in Riga, played the second match of the second round of qualification for the 2023 World Cup against the local national team in Reykjavik, the capital of the island nation of Iceland.

Qualification of the World Cup 2023

Iceland — Ukraine — 91:88 OT (14:19, 22:22, 27:14, 17:25, 11:8)

Ukraine: Mykhailiuk (19 points), Zotov (12), Bobrov (11), Blyznyuk, Pustovy, Tkachenko (10 each), Lukashov (7), Gerun (5), Len (4), Voinalovich, Krutous, Sidorov.

The wards of Ainars Bagatskis started the match with a bang, after five minutes of the quarter they won by a score of 17:7. True, then our boys “slipped”, but still went to the short break with significant advantages – 19:14.

In the second ten minutes, the teams were effective, and at the level of the struggle, they ended it as a draw, and the Ukrainians kept a lead of five points – 41:36.

The big break went to help the hosts, and from our guys, who “left” the locker room for a long time. As a result, as in the last match with Italy, the third quarter was lost (14:27) – and 55:63 on the example of our opponent before the final ten minutes.

With its beginning, the “yellow and blue” enthusiastically began to correct quickly, first reducing the gap to two points, and then completely leveling the score at the equator of the quarter – 71:71. Rivne’s score turned out to be 80:80 with the final siren, so the winner had to be determined in overtime. Here, unfortunately, you will lose the owners who are more prudent and lucky – as they say, walls also help at home. In the end, Iceland won 91:88.

Our representative in the NBA Svyatoslav Mykhailiuk became the most effective player of the Ukrainian national team – 19 points, Elvar Fridriksson, who plays for “Letuvos Ritas” in Lithuania, scored the most for the islanders – 27 points.

In two more matches of the game day, the Netherlands crushed Spain at home – 64:86, and Italy broke Georgia’s resistance in a tense confrontation – 91:84.

Team position: 1. Spain — 11 points; 2. Italy — 11; 3. Iceland — 10; 4. Georgia — 9; 5. Ukraine — 7; 6. The Netherlands — 6.

In the next match of the national team of Ukraine, on November 11, they will play on the road against the outsider of the groups, the Dutch (we remind you that the three best teams of the groups will make it to the final stage of the WC), and before that, in the beginning — in the middle of September, they will play in the final tournament of EuroBasket-2022.

Earlier, FACTS reported that the two-time Olympic basketball champion from the USA was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia.

Photo by fiba.com

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