In the capital, in the arena of the Republican cycle track "Saryarka", there will be a home match of the national basketball team of the Republic of Kazakhstan against the team of Iran within the qualification for the 2019 world Cup.

Behind our Kazakh national team two difficult matches against Iraq and Qatar, which took place at the end of 2017, then in a stubborn struggle the people of Kazakhstan celebrated the victory in two matches.

Now our team will have no less difficult and responsible match. The national team of the Republic of Iran will be the rival of Kazakhstan.

Iran's team is one of the favourites in group D of Asian qualification. In recent years, Iran has risen in the ranking of FIBA and now ranks second only behind the team of Australia, which recently joined the rating of FIBA Asia.

In history in tournaments of FIBA Kazakhstan national team 6 met with the Iranian team, only twice the Kazakhstan conquered Iran. The last meeting of the teams took place in the framework of the Asian Championship — 2013 (now the Asian Cup), then the Iranians celebrated Victoria. But, sport is sport, and these facts of past meetings do not affect the current mood of the team.

For example, the Iranians in the qualification for the 2019 world Cup, in their first match against Iraq, unexpectedly for all suffered a defeat with a score of 74:66, when the people of Kazakhstan won against Iraq with a score of 82:76. In the second meeting against Qatar, the Iranians achieved a major victory-65: 39. Thus, the Iranian team now ranks third in group D, behind Kazakhstan by only one point.

The upcoming match promises to be very interesting and can result in a tough fight for victory. Our guys need the support of their native stands.

Head coach of the national basketball team of Kazakhstan, Mikhail Karpenko:

- Iran is one of the strongest teams on the Asian continent in the last few qualifying rounds and tournaments. Historically, Iran has been a favorite of Asian tournaments. Despite the fact that they started with an unexpected defeat from Iraq, they still remain a favorite and in any case, this team will claim the first place in our group. We have a tough game ahead of us. Difficulties are added by the fact that they have changed the head coach and, accordingly, the system of the game in attack and defense will also change. Therefore for us matches from the first selection stage which took place in November aren't so informative from the point of view of tactics. In addition, the team of Iran has changed the growth of players, now the Iranians have 5 new players, including good, experienced veterans. We are preparing, setting up, naturally we want to win, but in order for us to do this, we need to give everything 100% on the ground. Be focused, be aggressive on defense, to maintain high the pace of the game and of course to make the right decision in attack.

February 22, at 20:00, sports hall of the Republican cycle track "Saryarka". We are waiting for You! We need your support!

Source: pbcastana.kz