After the thriller against Australia in the quarter-finals, Serbia now face the USA again. The coach of the runners-up, Svestislav Pesic, sees his team as the clear underdog
“We are playing against an exceptional team, for me they are the best team that has ever been put together as a national team,” said the 74-year-old, reiterating his theory that these Americans are better than the 1992 Dream Team.
“The Americans are no longer just a group of great individual players, they have grown as a team. We have respect for them, but no fear. We want to play a good game,” announced Pesic.
The Serbs have already met the USA twice in the group stage and during the preparation phase, with the team from the Balkans losing by 26 points on both occasions (79:105, 84:110). Pesic was correspondingly humble ahead of the game. “We’re not making any threats here, we have no right to. We know who we’re up against here. The fact that we’re one of the four best teams is a success and now we’ll try everything to win a medal. “
Serbia still worried about Nikola Jovic
That is anything but a given, as the Serbs overturned a 24-point deficit in the quarter-final against Australia to win in overtime. As a reward, Pesic gave his team a day off. “The players are physically and mentally exhausted,” said the former national team coach, explaining his decision. “We’ll train for another 45 minutes on Thursday and then go into the game against the USA with a lot of confidence.”
However, there are still minor injury problems for the runners-up. Nikola Jovic missed the game against the Australians and Vanja Marinkovic was only able to play eight minutes. Heat forward Jovic, in particular, is still doubtful