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Serbia and the USA will play off against each other in the gold medal match for the men’s basketball event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Join us here on The Roar for live scores from the match as well as live updates and a blog of the game, starting from 4:45am (AEST).
The USA are the undisputed kings of this event. The gold medal has been awarded in this event eighteen times, and they have won all but four of those, including the last two in a row at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and five of the last six.
In fact, here’s a list of the other nations who have won the gold medal in the event – the Soviet Union (1972, 1988), Yugoslavia (1980) and Argentina (2004). You might notice that those names, bar Argentina, are more commonly found in history books than they are in an up-to-date atlas.
Serbia have never won the medal as Serbia, but do have some of the legacy from the successful Yugoslavian teams of old, winning the gold once in 1980 – when the USA did not complete, boycotting the event, which was held in Moscow – and the silver on several occasions.
The USA have romped through the tournament to date with five wins from five games in the pools stage before wins over Argentina and Spain in the quarter and semi-finals.
Serbia on the other hand amazingly have made it through to the final despite winning only two of their pools games – they barely qualified for the knockout stage but have recorded wins over Crotia and Australia to make it into the gold medal match.
Prediction
While Serbia have done well to come this far, it just doesn’t seem at all realistic that they can upset a team that has dominated this event for such a long time.
USA by 12
Will the USA add yet another basketball gold to their collection? Or will Serbia stun their opponents – and the world – with an upset win?
Join us here on The Roar for live scores from the match as well as live updates and a blog of the game, starting from 4:45am (AEST).
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