Serbia qualified for its first World Basketball final since 2014 by beating Canada quite easily (95-86) on Friday in Manila.
Serbia will face on Sunday USA or Germanyopposed at 2:40 p.m. in the other semi-final.
They were beaten by the Americans in their last World Cup final in 2014.
Friday, in the Mall of Asia Arena, they were never led by the Canadianspresent for the first time in their history in the last four of the competition.
Diligent and aggressive in defense and particularly successful in shooting (36/58 62% success), including at three points (9/20), they were already comfortably leading at half-time (52-39), a gap maintained at the end of the third quarter (75-63).
Faced with Canadians handicapped by early errors from two of their best players, Dillon Brooks (fourth in the 24th minute) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (third in the 19th), they folded the match a little over two minutes from the siren, after an interception followed by a “lay up” from their leader Bogdan Bogdanovic (24 pts including 3/4 long distance, 3 interceptions, 28 overall evaluation).
Serbia, unfortunate finalist of the 2014 World Cup, will try to win its first world champion title in its history on Sunday.