Portugal Surprise Israel

Portugal recorded their first win in the qualifying round by beating Israel 94-85 this afternoon.
Both teams now have a 1-3 record in Group E and still hold a chance of qualifying to the quarter-finals.


After huge wins against Serbia and Croatia, some may have thought Israel would have an easier game against the team from Portugal - but that clearly wasn't the case.



"This victory is the confirmation of the work we have done in our preparation and of the attitude we have, which is to go out and win every game," said Portugal's Joao Santos.

"This is our second triumph at the EuroBasket and if our first was special, this is one is even more."

Valentyn Melnychuk's men, who have beaten Israel twice in the last qualifying campaign, were in control from the very first minute and never trailed thanks to a great preperation job by the veteran coach.

"All the things I was afraid about happened today. we started the game very bad, and didnt succeed in doing the things we like to do," said Israel's coach, Zvika Sherf.

"Portugal dominated the boards as they do in every game against us." he refered to the 45-25 difference under the boards.

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source : eurobasket2007.org