Luanda - The senior men's national basketball team play against the Republic of Guinea team on Friday (23), in the 1st round of the first qualifying window for Afrobasket'2025.
The match, at 6 pm, in Hammamet (Tunisia), refers to group E, which also includes Kenya and Tunisia (host), opponents on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Without coach Pep Clarós, absent for personal reasons, the Angolans start as favorites to win, under the guidance of assistants Anibal Moreira and Muguel Lutonda.
The Angolan team, which does not have most of the players who were at the last World Cup, in the Philippines, held between August and September 2023, starts as favorite against an opponent it has never lost to.
The Guinea national team has been growing in recent years, and was present at the last Afrobasket in 2021, in Rwanda.
The last time they met, on July 2, 2022, in qualifying for the World Championship, the Angolans won 85 -65.
Angola does not have the most experienced athletes, such as Bruno Fernando, Sílvio de Sousa and Eduardo Francisco due to technical choice and unavailability.
The host team will face a similar team from Kenya in the first round, which has recently naturalized several players.
Due to the withdrawal of Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Eswatini and Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa will compete in a play-off, the best of two matches, where the winner joins the group, with South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali.
Series B will also be played in Hammamet with Cape Verde, Nigeria, Uganda and Algeria.
The city of Cairo will host group D with Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and CAR.
Twenty nations, subdivided into five groups of four teams each, will compete for the 16 places for Afrobasket 2025.
National Team: Childe Dundão, Gerson Gonçalves "Lukeny", Elcane Paca, Aguinaldo Neto, Aboubakar Gakou, Teotónio Dó, Wilson Ambrósio, Kenneth Manuel, Macachi Brás, Cléusio Castro, Jilson Bango, João Fernandes, Eduardo Francisco.
Angola is the country with the most African titles, eleven in total, the last being in 2013 under the guidance of Angolan Paulo Macedo.
On four occasions he came in second position (silver) and twice in third (bronze). WR/MC/CF/DOJ
