Argentina beat Cuba, take first step towards World Cup return | OneFootball

It was a victory in Havana for Nicolás Casalánguida's team by 80 to 68. The best players for the albiceleste team were Cáffaro (18 points and 10 rebounds) and Corbalán (19 points, 7 rebounds).

The return operation to the World Cup for Argentina began, and it did so with a victory against Cuba in Havana by 80 to 68. Nicolás Casalánguida's team (Prigioni will resume command on Monday in Buenos Aires) found its top scorer in Gonzalo Corbalán with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Another standout was Fran Cáffaro, who contributed 18 points and 10 rebounds. For Cuba, Karel Guzmán stood out with 22 points and 6 rebounds. All the albiceleste players had playing time.

Argentina started by moving the ball well, with several one-on-one plays and finding good open shots. Gonzalo Corbalán began precisely and was the top scorer of the first stretch with 7 points. Campazzo and Deck came in, and due to the locals' imprecision (with several shots not hitting the rim and some turnovers), Casalánguida's team began to gain some advantage (14-7).

Some second chances allowed Bombino and Cuba to score, managing to get within 3 points (16-13). The Albiceleste closed the first quarter in a great way and, rotating the team a lot, nailed a 7-0 run to finish the initial episode ahead by 21-13. For the second quarter, Cuba raised their defense significantly, ran more, and managed to steal some balls, forcing Nicolás Casalánguida to call a timeout after the tie at 25, led by a great Karel Guzmán.

Argentina defended well again and, with good ball movement, some steals, and a couple of impressive dunks, regained the lead (33-25). Cáffaro was a nuisance for Cuba in the paint, fighting, drawing fouls, and converting the free throws earned. Brussino broke a three-point drought, and Corbalán closed it with a crossover and floater to end the first half ahead by 41-32.

The second half started with several missed three-pointers by Argentina, but also with good offensive rebounds from Casalánguida's team. Corbalán continued to be the offensive threat with his verticality. The offensive level definitely dropped, unable to break the Cuban defense, which, with the ball in Bombino and Guzmán's hands, got within just 2 points (50-48).

Led by Campazzo, Argentina started running the lanes again and regained the lead (59-48), finding very good points in transition and making a 9-0 run. The player from Gimnasia de Comodoro, Marcos Chacón, began to take charge of the Cuban offenses but wasn't very effective. The visitors took advantage of this to start stretching the lead (65-49).

With Karel Guzmán as the leader, Cuba decided not to end the game without a fight and got within 6 points of Argentina (74-68). With consecutive points, Fran Cáffaro cooled the situation, and the Albiceleste ended up securing their victory, being superior, missing and abusing the three-pointer quite a bit, allowing defensive rebounds, but winning. The second step in these qualifiers will be next Monday in Buenos Aires against the same opponent.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.