Germany and Dirk Nowitzki still have a chance to advance to the quarterfinals in EuroBasket07, the Olympic qualifying tournament for Europe, but they have a major challenge against a an angry team.
Italy won the silver medal in the 2004 Olympics but is 0-3 in the second round of this tournament. Italy is one of the teams that Germany still has to face, so that's a problem. But even before that, the Germans must face Slovenia, which is 3-0 in the second round.
So it appears that despite Dirk leading the tournament in scoring with a 28.8 average, it's going to take two upsets for the German team to advance to the quarterfinals, and then, of course, there are many additional challenges there.
Thus far in the tournament, Russia, LIthuania and Slovenia are undefeated after six games.
Spain has already qualified for the 2008 Olympics by winning the 2006 World Championships. Two additional teams will qualify from this event.
For more on EuroBasket07, click on this link.
-- Jan Hubbard
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