the preliminary round, Portugal's first match of the tournament came against the hosts Spain, where the team suffered a heavy defeat 56–82. After dropping their second game of the competition to Croatia, Portugal earned a crucial victory in their final preliminary phase match against Latvia 77–67. The important win over Latvia ultimately was enough to propel the team into the second round of the tournament for the first time. Portugal began the second round with a loss against Russia, who eventually went on to become champions of the competition; before picking up a solid victory in their second game of the round versus Israel 94–85. Although with an opportunity to advance to the quarter-finals all but gone, Portugal would easily be defeated by Greece 85–67 in their final game of the event. Nevertheless, the performance displayed by Portugal throughout the tournament was their best showing at the Euros ever to that point; which ensured the national team a top ten finish. EuroBasket 2011 After missing out on qualification for the EuroBasket in 2009, Portugal was successful during the qualifiers for EuroBasket 2011. Portugal was placed into Group A to begin the tournament, where they would meet Turkey in their first match. However, the team was outplayed from start to finish, in a 79–56 loss. At a record of (0–1), Portugal's task of winning their next match would be even tougher, with a date against Spain. Even with a valiant effort put up by the national team, Spain were just too much to overcome in the 73–87 defeat. For Portugal's final three group stage matches, the team was unable to put together an efficient stretch of basketball for a full game; which resulted in three more losses to prevent the team from advancing. EuroBasket 2017 qualification In the attempt for Portugal to reach the European Championship once again, after failed opportunities to qualify in 2013 and 2015; the national team was placed into Group D during the qualifying process. However, Portugal struggled in their first five matches in the qualifiers (0–5), to come away with their only win against Belarus 77–62 before being eliminated. 2019 World Cup qualification During qualification for Portugal to advance toward making their first appearance in the FIBA World Cup, the team first had to make it through European Pre-Qualifiers in order to realize their chance. Unfortunately, the national team was unable to improve on their performance