This lineup included Edwards, Aleksandar, King Arthur, Antetokounmpo, and Wemby.
That was right. Both Antetokounmpo and Wemby now held dual citizenship, including American citizenship.
This year, Team America had spent a fortune to bring the two of them in and get them to play for the United States.
Money wasn't really the main reason for those two. What they really wanted was to beat Wang Yi once.
They'd been playing for years. Aside from the preseason, when their teams had beaten Wang Yi's, they had never beaten him in the Regular Season, the Playoffs, the Finals, or any international competition.
And if they wanted to beat Wang Yi, joining Team America was their best shot.
American fans called this lineup the Avengers.
In their three group-stage games, the Avengers crushed their opponents by 22, 37, and 49 points, respectively, advancing at the top of their group.
The next stage worked like this: the top team in Group A faced the second-place team in Group B, and the top team in Group B faced the second-place team in Group A.
The same applied to Groups C and D.
China Team faced South Sudan, the second-place team in Group D.
South Sudan's players were all unusually tall for their age, around 1.15 meters, and they could run and jump.
Their ball handling was a little rough, though. Against a team like that, Wang Yi still barely took any shots.
He attempted just four shots in this game, making three of them from beyond the arc.
Zhang Yu, on the other hand, attempted nine three-pointers and made five.
China Team still focused on attacking inside, and South Sudan's tall players had almost no room to operate when Pang Bo, Wang Le, and Yang Hanson double- and triple-teamed them in the paint.
China Team