MADRID, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Spain will start as the clear favorites to win Group A of the FIBA World Cup, which starts on Saturday.
As well as counting on home support in the host city of Granada, the Spanish can count on a side with a host of experience in World Championship, Olympics and European Championship and with the backbone of the team based in the NBA.
The side led by Juan Antonio Orenga contains 7 winners of the 2006 world title and combines powerful inside play with a forward line led by Pau and Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Felipe Reyes, with guards who are fast, creative and usually reliable from outside of the zone.
Sergi Llull, Jose Manuel Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro should all offer a threat with three point throws, along with point guards Sergio Rodriguez and Ricky Rubio.
All in all Spain have a consolidated and versatile squad and it's no surprise many believe they can go all the way to the final.
The Spanish will have to compete against France, Brazil, Serbia, Iran and Egypt and will have to especially beware of the French and Brazilian sides, although France are missing key players such as Tony Parket and Joakin Noah, who was chosen as best defender of the last NBA season. NBA players, Kevin Seraphin and Alexis Ajinca are also out, along with point guard Nando de Colo, considerably weakening the side Vincent Collet.
Nevertheless a side containing Vincent Collet, Boris Diaw and Nico Batum and the veterans, Mickael Gelbale and Florent Pietrus, can't be taken lightly and the French should at least make it out of the group.
Brazil look a more potent threat and coach Ruben Magnana can count of four players Leandrinho Barbosa (Phoenix Suns), Anderson Varejao (Cleveland Cavaliers), Nene (Washington Wizards) and Tiago Splitter (San Antonio Spurs), currently plying their trade in the NBA, while Rafael Hettsheimeir (Unicaja Malaga), Marcelino Huertas (Barcelona) and Raulzinho Neto (Gipuzkoa Basket) all currently play in Spain and know exactly what awaits them.
Serbia is always a competitive, but somewhat volatile side and the Serbs will look to regain credibility after missing out on the Olympic Games and falling at the quarter-finals of the last two Eurobasket tournaments.
Milos Teodosic, Nenad Krstic and Bogdan Bogdanovic will form the backbone of their team.
Finally Egypt and Iran are the underdogs in the group and although they will no doubt make friends in Granada, they are not expected to progress into the last 16.
Egypt have a mainly domestic based squad, but had the talent to finish runners-up in the last African Championship with young point guard, Assem Marei, who plays in the US University League, their up and coming star.
Iran have one standout player: 2.18 meters tall power forward, Hamed Haddadi, who is the first Iranian to play in the NBA, where he shares a team with Marc Gasol at the Memphis Grizzlies.
Iran are appearing in their second World Cup after finishing 19th in Turkey four years ago and any improvement on that will be a success.
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