The final eight teams have advanced into the next round with a chance to capture two available berths to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With Turkey, Italy, Portugal and Israel eliminated, the tournament is down to the elite eight teams. Check out the following previews below and discuss the game in the related game thread links.

Germany: Spain @ 19:00, Sept 13, 2007 (game thread)
Spain will take on Germany in the first action of the quarterfinals. Germany defeated Italy after being demolished by the Slovenians by 30 the day before. Now, Dirk Nowitzki and his German compatriots face their toughest opponent in the Spaniards. Spain recovered from their loss to Croatia, by winning their next three games by a average margin of 19 points a game. It’s no secret that the key player for the Germans is Dirk Nowitzki, but as long as Spain isn’t overconfident, look for Spain to come out victorious.

France: Russia @ 21:30, Sept 13, 2007 (game thread)
In the second game, Russia (5-1) will take on France (4-2). France has a balanced offensive attack with seven players averaging at least 5 points, led by Tony Parker’s 19.5 points a game. Tariq Kirksay has been a pleasant surprise as the second leading scorer on the team with 10.5 points on 50% shooting from the field. Tariq is also averaging 1.7 steals a game.

On the other side, Russia is led by Andrei Kirilenko, who leads the Russians in scoring (18.3), rebounding (9.7) and blocked shots (1.3) while his fellow swingman Victor Khryapa has done his best AK-impression by putting up impessive numbers across the board – 10.5 point, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals. Russia can also thank their resurgent point guard JR Holden, an American with Russian citizenship for providing superb on-court leadership thus far.