The Latvian men's basketball team played better in the World Cup qualifying match on Friday than in the first window in November, after the defeat, said the head coach of the national team, Sito Alonso, according to LETA.
On Friday, the Latvian national team suffered a defeat in the final seconds of the World Cup 2027 qualifying match against Poland on their home court. The Latvian basketball players lost with a score of 82:84 (23:21, 25:21, 14:24, 20:18), with the winning shot made by Jordan Loyd on a difficult attempt.
"I am proud of my players, who played better than in the first window. We were not bad defensively. We don’t need to talk about negative things; we need to fight and be proud of our national team," Alonso said at the press conference.
The coach of the Latvian national team also noted that Loyd made an outstanding shot after a rebound, although there was a plan to contain him.
Meanwhile, the captain of the team, Rihards Lomazs, criticized one of the referees of the match - the Spanish Ariadna Chueca, who also officiates matches in the Spanish top league, both at the press conference and earlier in a live broadcast on Latvian television.
"As coaches and players, we need to think about different solutions to outplay the opponent," Alonso stated, refusing to criticize the referees' decisions.
In Group F, after three matches, Poland has three victories, the Netherlands has two, Latvia has one, and Austria has suffered three defeats. The top three teams will advance to the next stage.
In this window, the teams will meet again in Poland on March 1.
