There has been a number of call-offs and dropouts from the FIBA World Cup, and they seem to keep on coming. Some players have been injured and you get the feeling that other players are more than happy to be able to cite exhaustion or injury as a reason why they are unable to play in the big event. However, as we edge ever close to the big tournament, we are still finding players who are receiving bad news about the big event.
One player that had been hoping to make it to Spain to play was Drew Gooden. Gooden was hoping to pull on the uniform of Finland but it appears that the application he made to obtain dual citizenship has fallen through, or at least not been processed in time to allow him to be eligible for the event.
The player from the Wizards has a Finnish mother, and he was hoping to take advantage of this situation to play for the national team of Finland. However, initial reports indicate that Gooden has not been included in the 12 player roster submitted by the Finnish basketball authorities. This is a big blow for the country and player, who will start their campaign against the tournament favourites, Team USA.
If you are looking to place an interesting bet on the FIBA World Cup, you may want to look at the odds for the tournament going ahead. After all, with the amount of players dropping out or finding themselves ineligible for the tournament, there may be some teams that are unable to put a squad together! This isn’t a bet you are likely to find from any sports betting site but you will find plenty of chances to place bets on the futures market for betting on the 2014 FIBA World Cup. It also won’t be too long until you find individual game betting options for the big summer event, so if you are keen to improve your betting fun this summer, you don’t have long to wait.
Player talks of Finnish holidays in the summertime
While Gooden grew up in Oakland with his dad, he made summer trips to Finland every two years. Here he stayed with the family of his mum where he took part in a wide range of agriculture activities. Given that Gooden was staying a four hour drive north of Helsinki, the capital of Finland; it is fair to say that he was in a rural location. The player identifies himself as being Finnish and has always been keen to promote his connection to the country.
The player realises he has missed out on Team USA glory
The situation was not straightforward though and an appearance for Team USA back in 2000, and the fact that he only began the process of applying for dual citizenship this spring, haven’t helped. There is a lot to be said for the fact that Gooden, who is now 32 years old, has held off from applying for dual citizenship because he believed he had a chance of representing the American side at a major tournament. Now that he has realised this was not going to happen, he showed a new found level of keenness to embrace his Finnish roots. You can forgive some people for being slightly cynical about the action taken by Gooden.
Then again, if Finland were willing to bring Gooden on board, he had every right to explore his options. The more top class players playing at international level the better and this is something that most basketball fans will be supportive of.
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