Argentina's Prigioni cautious on his side's World Cup chances

Argentina' s veteran point guard Pablo Prigioni has warned that his country may not have the firepower to make it into the last four of the FIBA Basketball World Cup which is due to start Saturday.

Argentina begin their campaign against Puerto Rico and will take comfort from the fact they have started their last four World Cup campaigns with a win, but placed in Seville in a group containing Croatia, Greece, the Philippines and Senegal, speaking to FIBA.com, Prigioni looked to temper expectations among Argentina' s fervent supporters, highlighting the side was missing key players Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino, reports Xinhua.

"I think with Ginobili, Delfino and the complete team, we could expect to fight for third place, but right now, I don't think we have enough potential in the team to think about the top four," said Prigioni.

"We're almost done," commented Prigioni, who believes that although there is young talent coming through, some of the young players such as Matias Bortolin, Facundo Campazzo and Marcos Delia lack World Cup experience.

"FIBA Americas is not like a World Cup or like Olympics. Let's see how the young guys adjust to this kind of tournament."

"We hope they can play good basketball and look good as a team," he commented, saying they were the future and also the present of the side.

"They have to jump on the court and do their best because they're coming here to play and not sit on the bench," he commented before saying Croatia were favourites to win Group B.

"If you look at the talent of the players on the roster, I think Croatia is the top team in the group. I think they have the best team and the best players," he said, before adding that Argentina would do their best to finish top.

"We know it will be difficult. But we will try," he promised.