WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP YUGOSLAVIA 1970
The towns chosen to host the various phases were almost a complete cross section of the various
republics that formed Yugoslavia. Sarajevo (Bosnia), Split and Karlovac (Croatia) hosted the three
classification groups; Skopje (the capital of Macedonia) would hold the consolation phase and
Ljubjana (the capital of Slovenia) would be the venue for the fight for the medals.
Almost immediately a problem cropped up. The Yugoslav delegation made a highly irregular
request an put FIBA in a tricky situation. Ivo Daneu, the legendary Yugoslav player, planned to say
farewell to professional basketball and thought that the world championship on home soil would
be the ideal place. However, the presence of an out-of-form Daneu in the Yugoslavian squad
would force coach Ranko Zeravika to do without the services of another of his players.
Stankovic asked FIBA for permission for Daneu to take part without being officially counted as
part of the squad (as a sort of homage). William Jones was very happy with the progress of
basketball in Yugoslavia and highly impressed with the preparations for the event and did not feel
he could refuse this request. Besides, he had recently been awarded the highest honour the
Yugoslavian government could bestow on a foreigner, the Order of the Yugoslavian Flag with Gold
Stars. It was agreed that Daneu would play the first five minutes against Italy and then give up his
place in favour of the young Plecas, not to return until the end of the tournament and the
presentation of the trophies.
ITALY JOINS THE FAVOURITES
Yugoslavia, both for their condition as hosts and their great team, started as favourites and were
followed by the USSR, Brazil, the USA and Italy. The latter, despite their poor performance in the
previous year's European Championship held in Naples, had become a rival to be respected. Built
around the spirit of their big star Dino Meneghin, Italy clearly impressed in their Group B matches
in Split against Canada (84-69) and South Korea (77-66) and then played one of the tightest
matches ever against Brazil. After two periods of overtime Meneghin and his men won first place
in the group by a single point (93-94).
USA had no problems in finishing top of Group A in Sarajevo. They cruised through against
Australia and Cuba, and only Czechoslovakia put up any opposition, albeit minimal (99-86).
Despite this USA was still suspect. In a country full of excellent players they had to resort to Tal
Brody, born in the USA but with Israeli nationality, running the risk that the team could be declared
ineligible. The rest of the team was made up of army personnel and quasi-professionals playing in
European leagues. The group was completed by a very young 17-year old red-headed player called
Bill Walton who would come into the spotlight in future years but at this time he was a complete
unknown.
Everyone's eyes were on the Soviet Union. In spite of losing the silver medal match to Yugoslavia
in the 1968 Mexico Olympics they had their revenge in the European championship in Italy a year
later. The USSR played in Karlovac, a city close to Zagreb. Despite Group C not being very strong,
the Soviets showed themselves to be unstoppable. After warming up with a quiet win over
Uruguay (71-53) they slaughtered Panama (110-52) and UAR (121-50). Nothing like this had ever
been seen in a world championship. The organisers started to fear for Yugoslavia's chances and
began to put obstacles in the path of the Soviets.
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FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ