Canada Men's Basketball: Team announced for fifth window of FIBA 2019 World Cup of basketball Americas Qualifiers

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#Joel Anthony

Team Canada announced their 12-man roster for the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup qualifications on Friday.

NBA champion Joel Anthony and Brady Heslip headline the 12-man unit as Canada once again shows it's depth with many of the Canadian players not able to make the mid-season games.

“As we continue to advance towards our goal of qualifying for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, we are enormously proud that so many athletes have stepped up and are committed to serving the cause and our country,” head coach Roy Rana said in a press release.

“We are developing a culture of sacrifice and this group embodies the spirit of giving unconditionally to something that is greater than themselves. We are excited for the opportunities ahead in Caracas, Venezuela and Sao Paulo, Brazil.”

Canada is 7-1 and sits in first place of Group F with games against Venezuela and Brazil coming up in this window on November 30 and December 3rd respectively. Both games will be live and on-demand on DAZN.

Should Canada win both those games they will qualify for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. If they only win one of the two games, they will need the Dominican Republic to lose at least one of their games in this window to successful qualify.

Should Canada come away empty-handed in the fifth window, they'll still have the opportunity to qualify in the sixth window with games being played at home in St John's Newfoundland against Chile who they defeated 84-61 back in September and Venezuela.

To qualify for the World Cup, Canada must finish in the top three of their group or be the best fourth-placed team between Groups E and F. 

Group E

Team Games Wins Losses +/-
USA 8 7 1 197
Argentina 7 1 154
Puerto Rico 8 5 3 24
Uruguay 8 5 3 -64
Mexico 8 3 5 -31
Panama 8 3 5 -48

Group F

Team Games Wins Losses +/-
Canada 8 7 1 184
Venezuela 8 7 1 84
Brazil 8 7 1 108
 Dominican Republic 8 5 3 70
Virgin Islands 8 2 6 -113
Chile 8 1 7 -125

A total of seven teams will qualify from the Americas region and will be apart of 32 teams total at the biggest edition of FIBA World Cup in China in 2019 (Aug. 31-Sept. 15, 2019).

The full schedule and team roster is below.

Team Canada FIBA Qualification schedule

Date Game Place
November 26-28 Training Camp Orlando, FL
November 30 Canada @ Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela
December 3 Canada @ Brazil Sao Paulo, Brazil

*All Team Canada basketball games can be watched live and on-demand on DAZN.

#Canada Roster

Update: Kadre Gray has been added to the roster per Canada Basketball replacing Xavier Rathan Mayes who is out due to injury.

Gray is a 6'1 guard at Laurentian university is averaging 32.4 points, 7.5 assists and 7.4 rebounds in eight games so far this season.

He was named the USPORTS Men's Basketball Player of the Year last year.

Author(s)
Carlan Gay Photo

Carlan Gay is a deputy editor at The Sporting News.