Yugoslavia won the first of his five world basketball titles in Manila in 1978. And in the same scenario, 45 years later, a new opportunity to make history has presented itself, opening the deadline until the final of the ongoing World Cup. His triumph against the almighty Canada (95-86) is already a small feat in itself, which few people believed before the semi-final was at stake. The players of WeightHowever, they made it a reality and returned to the World Cup final nine years later, after playing in Madrid in 2014.

Facing a rival full of talent, with a lot of physicality and with a squad of seven NBA players, Serbian He showed that basketball is, first of all, a sport for smart people and that the team is always above the stars. The veteran Svetislav Pešićworld champion with Yugoslavia in 2002, won the duel with the player from Badalona Jordi Fernándezone of the emerging technicians, who has a great future, but who has failed to find a way out of the Balkan strategy.

Bogdan Bogdanovic, With 23 points, he established himself as the star of the evening by winning the duel with Dillon Brooks, the piece that Canada had used to dry up the rival figures, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was disconnected by the Serbian defense.

The party plan Weight was done perfectly the first time and completely disconnected Canada, a team that had outplayed its rivals, intense in defense, overwhelming physically, with many duels, and which could not carry out its particular scenario, but found itself overpowered for the first time in the tournament.

Serbian He closed the spaces, forced his rival to play in a scenario in which he did not feel comfortable, limited the penetrations of the Canadian players, in particular Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, who stayed at five points at halftime with only field goals, and generally knocked the Canadian team out of its rhythm, which was behind by 15 points on the scoreboard. Against the team Jordi Fernández He also played how fast Streams, With his thermometer and defensive blotter, he added the third foul, which quickly took him out of the equation.

Changes without output

With Bogdanovic and Dobric very effective from the outside, and also with Milutinov causing a lot of damage in the region, the Canadian exteriors being unable to generate spaces, Serbian He settled and grew in the game, exploiting his best weapons: he managed to add 10 points on the counterattack and 9 more after the defeats of his rival, which led him to cede a clear advantage at halftime (52-39).

It gave the impression that Canada He came in with more tension on the restart. He did not have a choice. He tried to be more vertical and direct in his search for the rim and even Jordi Fernández took the risk with an outside quintet on the field, without a clear pivot, but Serbian He knew how to return each shot, remaining solid on the rebound and in defense, finding good positions for his shooters, notably Dobric and Avramovic, who took temporary relief Bogdanovic and they came out deadly in the third quarter to further extend the advantages of the Balkan team (75-62).

The last period was already a race against time Canada to change your destiny, while Serbiancompletely acquired confidence, knew how to play with a lot of head and give the finishing touch to a rival who did not find a way to reduce the differences nor compromise the sensational Balkan victory, which consolidates a great generation of talents, despite the significant absences of Jovic and Micictwo of its main emblems.