the 2007 Pan American Games, followed by the team's first participation in a CaribeBasket tournament, debuting against Trinidad & Tobago. Although the team didn't have the participation of Daniel Santiago or Rick Apodaca, Puerto Rico won the tournament undefeated, which meant its classification to the 2008 CentroBasket tournament. Later that year, Puerto Rico started to host an exhibition tournament called the Marchand Continental Championship Cup in order to prepare for the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship. After playing against Brazil, Canada and Argentina, Puerto Rico lost all three games, ending up in fourth place. The year ended with a bronze at the FIBA Americas Championship. On January 31, 2008, a draw took place for the FIBA Preolympic tournament, which placed Puerto Rico in the same group as Croatia and Cameroon, where its winner would have to face the second place of Group C. Following this event, the president of the National Superior Basketball League confirmed that the team would play exhibition games at the 2008 Bamberg Super Cup in Germany against Greece, Slovenia and the host, beginning on July 4, 2008. Then, a second set of exhibition games would follow, scheduled to start on July 8, 2008, in Slovenia: the 2008 Alpos International Cup, where the team would face New Zealand, Iran and the hosts. After these preparatory tournaments, the team would train until the Preolympic tournament's beginning. The team began practicing on May 19, 2008, and included several players that were under consideration for inclusion by Cintrón. On June 4, 2008, Daniel Santiago confirmed that he would abandon his international retirement and play with Puerto Rico in the Preolympic tournament. Santiago announced that he would join the team in July, following an exhibition game. Javier Mojica, Alejandro Carmona and Joel Jones were included in as potential members in the preliminary team. On July 1, 2008, hours before the team was scheduled to travel to Europe, Ángelo Reyes was excluded after not establishing communication with the directives. Reyes was replaced with Alex Falcón. Subsequently, Reyes asked for a dispensation to attend personal matters, noting that he intended to join the team in a week; however, he was not included due to time constraints. In the first game at the Bamberg Super Cup, Puerto Rico defeated Germany with a team composed mostly of reserve players, as Carlos Arroyo, Santiago, Larry Ayuso and Carmelo Lee were attending other compromises. Puerto Rico continued playing