England Men: Nemeth looking for Swiss roll-over
England's senior men start off on the road which they hope will lead to the 2001 European Championship finals in Turkey tonight at Ponds Forge , Sheffield with a visit by Switzerland (Tip Off 7.30pm).
Without arguably the team's two best players in John Amaechi and Roger Huggins, the team's chances of taking three victories out of their three games in ten days have been severely diminished, a shame for a squad which on paper looks ready to compete with the any other in its group.
Coach Laszlo Nemeth however welcomes Steve Bucknall, Andy Betts and Delme Herriman as additions to the depleted squad which impressed last weekend in Portugal with Richard Windle and Tom Hull expected to drop back down into civvy clothes.
A good start will be a must with tough trips to Latvia and Slovakia to follow and against a Swiss side who will be fancied to prop up the final standings, England should have a good opportunity to sound the right note despite the additional loss to injury of first choice guards Steve Hansell and Ray Carter.
Switzerland reached this stage after coming through pre-qualifying last summer behind Portugal and Belgium. Visiting coach Dusko Ivanovic will look primarily to their Czech-born star Harold Mrazek for offense, a 1.78m guard who has averaged 17 points per contest for his Lugano team who have attained both a last 16 spot in this year's Korac Cup and a 11-0 start to their domestic campaign.
Nemeth will turn to a revitalised Andy Gardiner plus the youthful exuberance of Yorick Williams to carry his own scoring load, while Betts gets a real opportunity to become his country's centre of the future after an impressive run of performances in Italy where his own play has risen above that of his Serie A basement dwellers Bipop Emilia.
And if nothing else, the defensive initiative will be marshalled by Bucknall whose experience will be so vital in every one of the qualifying games.
The two sides met twice in friendly competition earlier this year, splitting the wins in Switzerland. Nemeth will hope for a big support and a favourable result on home soil.
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