Olympians and Australian Basketball Hall of Famers Andrew Gaze, Michele Timms and Robyn Maher have looked ahead to the key matchups for the Opals in the group stage at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.
The Opals will be looking to hold the World Cup trophy aloft on home soil with the tournament returning to Australia, at Sydney Olympic Park, for the first time since 1994.
Australia is currently ranked No.3 in the world and at the World Cup qualifying tournament in Serbia, the Opals showed huge promise and an exciting brand of basketball.
They’ve been drawn into group B with Canada, France, Japan, Mali and Serbia.
So what are the group stage matches Andrew, Michele and Robyn can’t wait to watch? Let’s get into them.
Australia v France
Thursday 22 September 8:30PM AEST at the Sydney SuperDome
Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists France await Australia in the home nation’s World Cup opener.
“The Opals’ opening game against France is going to be critical,” Andrew said.
“Group B is a tough pool, and getting the tournament off to a good start against a strong French team would be extremely helpful to their campaign.”
Last week the Opals played a tough and physical warm up match against France, winning 92-88, and Robyn Maher expects more of it.
“The Opals in past tournaments have had classic games against France, so I am really interested in this particular game,” Robyn said.
“Of course I would also love to watch our GOAT (Lauren Jackson) step back into international basketball. She’ll make a huge difference to the dynamics of the Opals.”
This game will also be Tess Madgen's first match as Opals captain.
Australia v Serbia
Sunday 25 September 6:00pm AEST at the Sydney SuperDome
For Michele Timms this match-up is about getting square.
“The Opals v Serbia rematch is going to be great,” Michele said.
“It’s payback time from the qualifying tournament thriller that Serbia won.”
Australia and Serbia were both undefeated heading into their last qualifying tournament game earlier this year, the Opals led after three quarters but Serbia rallied to win in front of their home fans.
“I think this match will tell Opals fans a lot about how deep the Opals can go in this tournament, and I just love Serbia’s intensity and the ferocious way they play defence.”
Robyn knows “European teams never come underdone, so watching the Serbia game against the Opals will be fun.”
Australia v Japan
Tuesday 27 September 8:30pm AEST at Sydney SuperDome
The Opals will close out the group phase against the Tokyo 2020 silver medallists and their FIBA Asia Cup rival, Japan.
A young Opals squad fell to Japan by two points in the Olympic semi-finals, but this time Robyn likes that they’ll have a full-strength squad and home-court advantage.
“The Japan game will be very interesting, with them coming off an Olympic silver medal last year,” Robyn said.
Australia is the last nation outside of the USA to win the World Cup, back in 2006. The home crowd support will be key to retake the Cup and to go one better than Australia’s runner-up finish in the 2018 World Cup final in Spain.
The Australian Opals 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup squad (*denotes Olympian):
*Bec Allen, *Sara Blicavs, Darcee Garbin, *Cayla George, *Lauren Jackson, *Ezi Magbegor, *Tess Madgen, Anneli Maley, *Steph Talbot, *Marianna Tolo, Kristy Wallace, Sami Whitcomb
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