Serbia vs Italy: Analysis and Prediction – As part of preparations for the FIBA World Cup, Serbia and Greece will play a friendly game in Athens.
Serbia Team News
For the Serbian national team, led by coach Svetislav Pesic, this will be the fourth preparatory match. After two victories in closed-door matches. Serbia secured another win, against Greece, with a final score of 71-64.
The best scorers were Bogdan Bogdanovic with 15 points, Marko Guduric with 14 points, and Nikola Milutinov also with 14 points. Throughout the game, Serbia actively try to run to transition and Bogdanovic played a crucial role in this strategy. However, when the game was in a 5-on-5, they struggled to organize their plays due to the absence of a traditional point guard. This was expected given their lack of a key player in that position.
It’s important to note that Serbia will be highly motivated in their upcoming match, hoping to recover from their recent defeats against Italy. Furthermore, these two teams are expected to face each other again in the later stages of the World Cup, so it will be interesting to see if either team is holding back any strategies.
Italy Team News
The Italian national team has played two matches as part of their preparations for the upcoming World Cup, both of which were held in Trento. They emerged victorious in both matches, defeating Turkey in the first round and China in the final.
The national team achieved victory against Turkey, with Simone Fontecchio, Nicolo Melli, and Stefano Tonut leading the way. Fontecchio stood out with an impressive 21 points. In the final against China, the reserves shone. Matteo Spagnolo scored 13 points, while Mouhamet Diouf added 12 points.
The Italians are entering this match with a lot of confidence, as they have defeated the Serbian national team in the previous two official matches. The first time was during the qualifications for the Tokyo Olympic Games, and that was in the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall. The second victory came last year in the European Championship Round of 16.
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Serbia vs Italy H2H
These two teams have faced each other numerous times, with Serbia emerging victorious in 12 matches, while Italy has only won four. It’s worth noting that Italy has won the last two official matches between the teams.
Absences and Injuries
The Italians should have all players available. As for Serbia, they will be without Alen Smailagic and Uros Trifunovic, who are still recovering from injuries. Nikola Topic will also be absent from the lineup, as he has been given rest following the U18 European Championship victory. Dusan Beslac is also out of the team, as he is on leave due to his recent wedding. Stefan Jovic missed the match agains Greece.
Serbia vs Italy Prediction
During the past few games, these two teams have consistently scored a lot of points. However, in their current preparation phase, the Italian team has not been scoring as much. Based on this trend, we predict that there will be fewer points scored in the upcoming game. So we go with under 157.5 points
Tip-off Time: Wednesday 09.08.2023, 18:45 CET
Prediction: Under 157.5
Odds: 1.83
Sportsbook: Bet365