April 16, 2019 - In an exclusive interview for Dnevnik Nova TV on Monday, Croatian basketballer Dario Šarić spoke about the NBA season behind him and the collapse of the Croatia national team. 

After losing to Poland on Friday night in Varaždin, the Croatia basketball team has lost hope of advancing to the 2019 World Cup in China.

Ahead of the Croatia basketball team are two crucial qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China. The Croatia basketball team coach Dražen Anzulović released a list of 24 candidates he will count on in the last qualifying games for the upcoming competition, reports Gol.hr on February 13, 2019. 

The first game will be played on February 22 in Varaždin against Poland (6 pm), while on February 25, Croatia will play away against Hungary in Szombathely.

Anzulović said he could not release a shorter list due to several questionable players. As you probably assumed, none of Croatia’s NBA players can participate due to their ongoing season. 

"We know our opponents, and we have to believe in what we can, and show it on the court. In any composition, even without the NBA players who are still the backbone of our quality, we can never be sure that we are the favorites in any game. However much effort we put on the court will be returned to us, but it is certain that to get Hungary in Hungary, we have to be at the top of our team’s capabilities,” Anzulović said. 

"At this point, the players who are questionable for the national team are Tomislav Zubčić, Ivan Ramljak and Pavle Marčinković. The captain of the last qualifying round, Marin Rozić, asked to be released from the national team duties because of family obligations," he added.

Toni Nakić and Roko Prkačin, the silver and gold medalists from the U20 and U16 national teams, are new to the senior list of candidates.

"It is a vision that we have in the Federation for the future of Croatian basketball, and this can certainly be an incentive for them to be even better," Anzulović said and urged fans to support them in Varaždin.

Croatia still has a theoretical chance of qualifying, though their chances do not only depend on themselves. 

The Croatian basketball team must win both games and hope Poland loses at home against the last-placed Netherlands. Croatia must compensate for their defeat against Poland in the first game (79:74) to have a better mutual ratio in the event of a tie.

Croatia's list of 24 players: 

BABIĆ Luka

BILAN Miro

BILINOVAC Josip

BOŠNJAK Domagoj

BOŽIĆ Luka

JUNAKOVIĆ Martin

KALAJŽIĆ Mate

KATIĆ Toni

KRUŠLIN Filip

LJUBIČIĆ Krešimir

MARČINKOVIĆ Pavle

MUSTAPIĆ Jakov

NAKIĆ Toni

PERIĆ Hrvoje

PERKOVIĆ Toni

PLANINIĆ Darko

PRKAČIN Roko

RAMLJAK Ivan

ROGIĆ Roko

ŠAMANIĆ Luka

ULJAREVIĆ Karlo

VUKOVIĆ Domagoj

ŽGANEC Karlo

ZUBČIĆ Tomislav

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

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