“World champion in what?”: The Internet laughs after Germany’s World Cup coup against the United States

Germany won the Basketball World Cup at the expense of the United States of America. Because they still like to call themselves “world champions,” the Internet laughs. Germany faces Serbia in the final.

German basketball players reached their first historic World Cup final with a stunning victory over the USA. The team led by captain Dennis Schroeder sensationally won the semi-final in Manila on Friday against top favorites and Olympic champions USA with a score of 113:111 (59:60). Led by the outstanding Franz Wagner (22 points) and the nearly unstoppable Andreas Obst (24), Germany challenged the NBA's superstars in impressive fashion.

Germany will now face Serbia in the final on Sunday. The Serbs, led by veteran coach Svetislav Pesic, achieved a surprise victory over Canada with a score of 95:86 in the first semi-final match.

This is the second time in a row that the United States has been eliminated early from the World Cup. In 2019, the Etoile team failed in the quarter-finals against France. The sudden defeat comes at a bad time for American basketball players.

“World Champion” despite his exclusion from the World Cup?

Just in August, American speedster Noah Lyles criticized the fact that the winningest NBA team annually crowns itself “world champion.” “World champion what? From USA?,” the 26-year-old asked sarcastically at the time.

For these statements, the newly crowned three-time world track and field champion in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4×100 meters races received a lot of criticism from the ranks of American basketball players. For example, Kevin Durant said on social media: “Somebody's gotta help him.” Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat wrote: “I'm a huge fan, but this is over because of these bulls***.”

After the defeat to Germany, Noah Lyles was laughing again. Although the United States will play in the World Cup finals in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines without its superstars LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, they will not be allowed to call themselves world champions for the next four years. The internet thinks this is pretty funny.

After the victory, Germany secured its second World Cup medal after 2002. At that time, Dirk Nowitzki's team won the bronze medal. The final in Manila is considered the greatest success in Germany's World Cup history. In front of 11,011 spectators, Andreas Obst was the best shooter in the German national team with 24 points. Anthony Edwards shined for the United States with 23 points.