The Canadian men’s basketball team will host Brazil on Sept. 13 to kick off its second round of qualifying for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reports that Team Canada will play its match at Place Bell in Laval, Que.
Following its game in Laval, Canada will then travel to Chile for a Sept. 16 affair, and then won’t play again until late November.
Here’s a full look at Canada’s second-round schedule:
• Sept. 13 – Canada vs. Brazil
• Sept. 16 – Canada at Chile
• Nov. 30 – Canada at Venezuela
• Dec. 3 – Canada at Brazil
• Feb. 21 – Canada vs. Chile
• Feb. 24 – Canada vs. Venezuela
Canada recently finished the first round of qualifying with a pair of blowout wins on home soil against the Dominican Republic and U.S. Virgin Islands to finish atop their Group D with a 5-1 record.
For the second round, that record Canada boasts, along with the team’s point differential so far in the qualifying process, is carrying over into the new Group F that Canada’s been placed into.
| Position | Team | Wins | Losses | Points |
| 1 | Venezuela | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| 2 | Brazil | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| 3 | Canada | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| 4 | Dominican Republic | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 5 | U.S. Virgin Islands | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 6 | Chile | 1 | 5 | 7 |
As you can see in the table above, the top three teams from the group will earn an automatic berth into the FIBA World Cup, while the fourth-place finisher will only qualify should it have a better record than the other second-round group’s (Group E) No. 4 team.
It’s important for Canada’s basketball team to reach the FIBA World Cup as Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification will feed directly out of that event.
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