Latvia Arrives in Zadar Without Half the Team
Five key players have pulled out of the match against Croatia, and sporting director Bertans doesn't hide his disappointment: 'The reasons aren't always fully clear to me.'
Five key players have pulled out of the match against Croatia, and sporting director Bertans doesn't hide his disappointment: 'The reasons aren't always fully clear to me.'
The Croatian national basketball team starts its first training session in Opatija on Thursday morning, with head coach Tomislav Mijatović gathering 15 players ahead of two crucial matches in the second round of qualifiers for the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar. Latvia arrives in Zadar on August 27, followed by an away game against the Netherlands, and two victories would practically secure a spot at the world tournament, where Croatia hasn't appeared since 2014.
Croatia enters the first window of the second round with a record of five wins and one loss from the last six games, and Mijatović will, for the first time, be able to count on all his best players. Ivica Zubac, Karlo Matković, and Mario Hezonja-the MVP of the first part of the European qualifiers and new Cleveland Cavaliers player-form the core around which optimism is built. The importance of this window is further emphasized by the fact that NBA players won't be available in November and February, making two wins now an imperative.
In the second-round group, Germany also has a 5-1 record, while Poland is at a perfect 6-0. The top three teams will secure a spot at the World Cup, and Latvia entered the second round with three wins and three losses. A loss in Zadar would leave them three wins behind Croatia with only five games remaining, including two against Germany.
Latvia arrives on the Adriatic coast weakened by absences that seriously undermine their competitiveness. Rodions Kurucs, Rolands Šmits, Kristaps Porziņģis, Andrejs Gražulis, and Artūrs Kurucs will not play against Croatia, reducing their list of key players to just three significant names: playmakers Artūrs Žagars and Kristers Zoriks, and shooting guard Rihards Lomažs.
Latvia's sporting director, Dairis Bertans, didn't hide his frustration with the situation. "First of all, what I can and want to say is thank you and immense respect to those who are training, who are here and have been working hard for two weeks," Bertans told Sportske novosti, appealing for the focus to shift to the players who answered the call. Still, he couldn't avoid the topic of the absences: "Looking from my perspective, the reasons the players gave us, the national team, aren't always fully clear to me, but that probably doesn't mean they aren't clear to the players themselves."
An additional blow for Latvia is the retirement of Dāvis Bertans from the national team this summer, losing yet another experienced player in the rotation. Head coach Jānis Gailītis, who also leads French side Strasbourg, took over the team after Luca Banchi led Latvia to fifth place at the last World Cup, and now he must find a way to a positive result in Zadar with a depleted roster.
Despite the handicap, Latvia still poses a threat from the perimeter. Artūrs Žagars is the team's leading scorer with 18 points per game, Rihards Lomažs follows with 17.5, while forward Artūrs Strautiņš averages 17.3 points and five rebounds per game. Toms Skuja dishes out 4.3 assists per game and serves as the engine of Latvia's offense.
However, the key question is how Latvia, without Porziņģis, Šmits, and Gražulis, will contend with Croatia's tall lineup led by Zubac and Matković. It's precisely in that difference in size and quality under the basket that Croatia should build its dominance and secure a comfortable finish to the game.
Croatia's second opponent in this window will be the Netherlands, which finished the first round with a 2-4 record. Head coach Johan Roijakkers, a 46-year-old coach of Kortrijk who previously led Bamberg and Varese, relies primarily on Keye Van der Vuurst de Vries, the best player of the qualifiers so far, averaging 20.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.5 assists.
An interesting Croatian connection comes from Yannick Franke, a former Zadar guard, who averages 16.5 points in the qualifiers. David N'Guessan, with 10 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, is the Netherlands' best rebounder. Before arriving in Croatia, the Dutch will play away in Germany in Cologne, meaning they face an extremely demanding schedule at the start of the second round.
