The victory of the Nigerian national team over the United States surprised locals and strangers and begins to create doubts about the powerful team of the United States that, as has been tradition for several years, comes out as the favorite to hang the gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
But Nigeria’s is not the only scandalous defeat for the North American team, which since 1992 has had NBA players on its teams for both the Olympics and the world championships, Except for 1998, they were unable to attend due to the strike. It is true that it was a preparation game, but it gives to remember some of the most notorious defeats in World Cups and Olympic Games.
Argentina, the first to defeat them
At the 2002 Indianapolis World Championship, the first loss for a United States team with NBA players, it was the Argentina team that beat them 87-80 to break their streak of 58 wins without defeat. Paul Pierce, Reggie Miller and Michael Finley they were some of the prominent names in the United States. While the Argentines had the famous Golden Generation headed by Manu Ginobili.
Spain humiliates them at home
In that same tournament held in Indianapolis, Spain was in charge of specifying the humiliation for the United States By relegating them to fifth place, defeating them 81-75, it should be noted that those led by coach George Karl reached the last quarter of that game with a 13-point advantage.
First defeat at the Olympics
The bad streak would continue in the Athens Olympics 2004 and the first surprise was made by the team of Puerto Rico who beat the United States at the start of the tournament 92-73. It was the first defeat at the Olympics for the Americans since the arrival of the Dream Team in 1992.
Argentina repeats the dose
Not only was it Argentina’s second victory over the United States, the victory of the Albiceleste team in Athens 2004 with a score of 89-81 left the team led by Larry Brown without the possibility of fighting for the gold medal. The team that had players like Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and youngsters Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, had to settle for bronze.
A World Cup to be forgotten
The 2019 FIBA World Cup was without a doubt the worst tournament for a United States team with NBA players in their ranks and failure was confirmed when Serbia defeated them 94-89 to relegate them to play for seventh place in the tournament. In the quarterfinals, France had left them without the possibility of a medal fight by beating them 89-79. The coach was Gregg Popovich.
The United States will return to the court this monday july 12 In the second preparation game at their Las Vegas camp, the rival will be Australia and the pressure for this young group will grow, as the distance with the rest of the world has been reduced dramatically.