Photo credit: Trung Ho / TrungHo.ca
Canada Basketball will be headed to Laval when FIBA qualifiers resume with second-stage games in September.
The program announced Friday that their Sept. 13 home game against Brazil will be held at Place Bell in Laval, with tickets going on sale July 20 at noon through Ticketmaster. The game will tip off at 7:30 ET.
Canada will also play a pair of home games in February as part of the next round, with the location still to be determined.
The team enters the second qualification round at 5-1 with a +153 point differential and will need to finish in the top three of the six-team group that includes Dominican Republic, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and U.S. Virgin Islands. The best fourth-place team between the two remaining pools will also qualify, making it seven teams from the Americas headed to the 2019 World Cup. From there, Canada would have a chance to qualify for the 2020 Olympics as well.
The schedule for the second round is as follows, with Canada’s home games in bold:
Sept. 16 – Canada at Chile
Nov. 30 – Canada at Venezuela
Dec. 3 – Canada at Brazil
Feb. 21 – Canada vs. Chile
Feb. 24 – Canada vs. Venezuela
It’s expected that the September games will have at least some participation from the program’s NBA talent, while the four in-season qualifying games will once again rely on G League and non-EuroLeague international players, who helped the team go 3-1 in the last round without NBA assistance.
