The Chinese men's basketball team, which defeated the Mongolian team 80-49, ushered in the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asian Cup qualifiers. At 13 o'clock on February 25 (Sunday), the Chinese team will challenge the Japanese team at the Ariake Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.
The Chinese men's basketball team defeated the Mongolian men's basketball team 80-49 According to Visual China.
In the first phase of the Asian preliminary power list announced by FIBA not long ago, the Chinese men's basketball team only ranked seventh, and the Japanese team ranked second. Due to the deep ties between the two teams, this match is in the spotlight. Will the Chinese team, with a young squad, be able to withstand the away pressure and win this important game?
In the Asian Cup, the Chinese team won all 16 games against the Japanese team.
In the Asian Cup, both teams have a brilliant record. The Chinese men's basketball team topped the list with 16 championships, while Japan also topped the list twice.
In fact, since the 1936 Olympic Games, the Chinese men's basketball team has never lost to the Japanese men's basketball team in the Asian and above competitions organized by FIBA. Judging from the Asian Cup matchup, from 1975 to 2011, the Chinese men's basketball team won all 14 games against the Japanese men's basketball team, and then in the four tournaments in 2022, the two teams did not meet in the main game. After the qualifiers, the Chinese men's basketball team also won both games in the 2022 Asian Cup qualifiers. In other words, in the Asian Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team won all 16 games against the Japanese team.
Japanese team player Hachimura according to ic photo
Looking back at the last confrontation between China and Japan, it was the World Cup qualifiers in November 2021, when the Chinese men's basketball team defeated the opponent 106-73 under the leadership of head coach Du Feng. In the game, Zhao Rui scored a game-high 27 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals, Zhang Zhenlin 17 points, Guo Allen 14 points, Xu Jie 13 points, Hu Jinqiu 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. However, at that time, the three main players of the Japanese team playing overseas, Hachimura Tsuku, Watanabe Yuta, and Baba Yudai, did not participate in the competition.
The Japanese team threatened revenge and played with the World Cup squad.
In 2021, Tom Horvath took over the Japanese men's basketball team. Under his leadership, the strength of the Japanese men's basketball team has been significantly improved, and the main focus on rapid counterattacks and three-point shooting has become a distinctive label of the team.
Since then, Japan has begun to make its mark on the international stage: in the 2022 FIBA Asian Cup, Japan advanced all the way to the final, and finally lost to Australia to win the runner-up. Then at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, they became the team with the best record in Asia, successfully securing the qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Judging from the training list announced by the Japanese Basketball Association on January 31, in addition to Yuta Watanabe and Keisei Tominaga, 10 of the 12 people who participated in the World Cup were impressively listed. Including Yuki Kawamura, Yuki Tomiyatsu, Yudai Baba, naturalized player Hawkinson and others, with an average age of 263 years old, average height 193cm. "The two games against the Chinese team in 2021 woke up all those involved in Japanese basketball," Horvath said. Let's realize that change is imperative. He also directly stated his ambitions: "Last time we didn't win, this time we want to win, we want revenge." ”
The goal is the future, and the Chinese team focuses on cultivating new talents.
In the 14-member squad of the Chinese men's basketball team for the Asian Cup qualifiers, there are a new generation of players such as Cui Yongxi and Yu Jiahao, who are gradually emerging, and Yang Hansen, a former star player of the national youth team. The average age of the entire team is 24At the age of 1, 19-year-old Yang Hansen became the youngest player in the team.
Yang Hansen, who made his senior national team debut against Mongolia, had a good performance, coming off the bench to score 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, and also contributed a stunning dunk in the first half to detonate the game.
Compared with last year's tournament lineup, the age structure of this Chinese men's basketball team is further younger. In this Asian Cup qualifiers, the Chinese men's basketball team is in Group C with the Japanese team, the Mongolian team, and the ** team. As the top two teams in the group will qualify for the Asian Cup, the third place in the six groups will play a play-off to determine the four teams to enter the Asian Cup. Therefore, the pressure on the Chinese men's basketball team to qualify for the group is not great, and training young players has become an important goal for the Chinese men's basketball team to participate in this Asian preliminaries.
Djordjevic communicates with Yang Hansen according to Visual China.
Chinese men's basketball coach Djordjevic said that the introduction of more candidates in this training camp is to allow the players to establish a tacit understanding in advance, and if the old players are unable to play due to injuries and other reasons, the young players can fill the position in time. Djordjevic also revealed, "At the first meeting after the team was assembled, Chairman Yao Ming said at the meeting that the team's goal is to win the next 2028 Olympic Games." ”
The goal is the future, but how to take every step of the present is what the Chinese men's basketball team needs to face urgently.
Playing away against the Japanese men's basketball team was not an easy task, and in addition to the strong squad sent by the Japanese men's basketball team, there was unprecedented enthusiasm among Japanese fans due to the success of the Japanese team in the World Cup. At the Ariake Stadium in Tokyo on the 25th, in the cheers of the crowded Japanese fans, can the Chinese team withstand the pressure, play their strength, and win this game that must be won?
Red Star News reporter Pei Han Zhou Yao.
Edited by Ou Peng.
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