Germany stunned the United States to reach the Basketball World Cup final against Serbia with a 113-111 win over the Americans on Friday.
Germany went toe-to-toe with their more celebrated opponents for the full game in Manila and were rewarded with a first-ever final appearance.
The result means the United States will miss the final for the second straight tournament, after finishing seventh in China in 2019.
Andreas Obst, who was a constant thorn in the Americans’ side, finished as Germany’s top scorer with 24 points.
Franz Wagner with 22 points and Daniel Theis with 21 also made a huge contribution to Germany’s win.
Things started to go wrong for the United States in the third quarter when Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson both made simple mistakes to hand Germany a six-point lead.
Germany built on the advantage and Dennis Schroder nailed a shot to put his team 94-84 ahead at the end of the third quarter.
Germany kept their discipline to see out the win with the Americans pushing hard in the fourth quarter.
Serbia will face them in Sunday’s final after beating Canada 95-86 earlier in the day.
It was the United States’ second defeat of the tournament, having lost to Lithuania in the second round.
Anthony Edwards was the Americans’ top scorer with 23 points, followed by Austin Reaves on 21.
