Can Lebanon Beat the Odds? | Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
Two-time West Asian champions, three-time Asia’s runner-up, and after participating in the last two Fiba World Championship (2002 and 2006), something is amiss with Lebanon… and to me, that is the Olympic Games!
Despite being the favourites in last year’s FIBA Asia Championship that was held in Japan, Lebanon lost a dramatic 74 - 69 match against Iran. Lebanon lost the one and only automatic invitation that was given to Asia and must now go through the Olympic Qualifiers that will be held in Athens, Greece from 14-20 July 2008.
Comparing the preparations that Lebanon is currently going through and the group in which Lebanon was drawn in, many might agree that these preparations are not quite enough. The ability to stand up against teams like Greece and Brazil, requires more than just two friendly tournaments and in such a short time!
The “Cedars” team was assembled relatively late, around the middle of June, due to the long Lebanese basketball season and then headed immediately after one week to Jordan. Lebanon was able to win the WABA championship, that was held in Amman, Jordan from 19-21 June, against relatively weaker teams (except Jordan) but with an unconvincing performance. It was clear that the Lebanon still lacked the chemistry and the ability to play fully as a cohesive team.
Lebanon then traveled to Canada to participate in the Jack Donohue International Classic from from June 30 until July 5, 2008. Their three losses, two against Canada and New Zealand, plus the big loss of Joe Vogel to injury, certainly did not put things back into a positive perspective. Lebanon not only failed to win any games, but they also failed to improve their style of play.
Perhaps the only bright spot was Rony Fahed, but the rest of the team, even superstar Fadi El-Khatib, were not able to produce their normal way of playing, thus creating more doubts not only to whether Lebanon can make it through to the second round, but also to whether they will be able to give a decent performance that truly reflects the current good level of Basketball in the country.
With not much time left to go, Lebanon headed to France in order to participate in a friendly tournament with Cameroon and Cape Verde. Cameroon, due to financial problems, forfeited the tournament and Lebanon ended up playing only one match against Cape Verde. Even so, Lebanon lost to Cape Verde in surprising 90-88 match, but the game did have some highlights, as key players played well (El-Khatib scoring 35 pts, Beshara, whom did not play against Canada, added 16 pts, Ali and Rony 15 pts each). This was their last chance to try and improve things and accomodate the abscense of their star center, Vogel.
The Lebanese team did not have enough good preparation and is now having some performance problems, but that never stopped them from playing with their hearts and surprising someone. Everyone remembers that famous 74-73 win for Lebanon over France on the 23rd of August 2006 in the last FIBA World Championship in Japan. They were able to beat the odds then, but with all these chemistry issues, can Lebanon do it again?
Sources and Links: Canadian Men defeat Lebanon in opener of Jack Donohue International Classic (basketball.ca) - Tall Blacks down Lebanon 84-71(basketball.ca) - Canada ends Donohue Classic on a positive note (basketball.ca) - Lebanon will miss Joe Vogel in Athens (fiba.com) - National team in trouble (africabasket.com) - Cape Verde defeating Lebanon (In Portuguese) (liberal.sapo.cv) - Lebanese & Middle East Basketball Message Board (Interbasket) - Lebanon NT 2008! (Discussion - Interbasket Forum)
