{"id":769300,"date":"2026-06-29T17:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T17:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/769300\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T17:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T17:38:14","slug":"canadas-basketball-stars-watching-supporting-mens-soccer-world-cup-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/769300\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada&#8217;s basketball stars watching, supporting men&#8217;s soccer World Cup team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"posted\">By Canadian Press on June 29, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/02131d6d447baa5a08f351e87249976d14f793dbd5b7b213df61ae0775d49d5a-300x200.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander speaks to media at the training camp roster announcement for the FIBA Men\u2019s World Cup Americas Qualifiers, in Toronto, on Monday, June 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sammy KoganTORONTO \u2014 Canada\u2019s other men\u2019s World Cup team is paying close attention to the success of the national soccer team.<br \/>\nBasketball stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dillon Brooks and Nickeil Alexander-Walker all said they were getting inspiration from Canada\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team advancing to the Round of 16 at the World Cup. The trio spoke before Canada\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team opened up its training camp ahead of two FIBA Americas qualifying games that could send them back to the 2027 Basketball World Cup.<br \/>\n\u201cWatching their games, their success, it\u2019s been inspiring to see the growth of that program and where it\u2019s come from in just a short amount of time, the growth of the players,\u201d said Gilgeous-Alexander, a two-time NBA MVP with the Oklahoma City Thunder. \u201cIt\u2019s been inspiring.<br \/>\n\u201cIt\u2019s been fun, and makes you proud to be Canadian.\u201d<br \/>\nCanada beat South Africa 1-0 on Sunday in a Round of 32 match in Los Angeles. It\u2019s the first time the Canadian men have won a knockout match at the World Cup.<br \/>\nBrooks said he attended two of Canada\u2019s group-stage matches in Toronto and Vancouver before reporting to the basketball team\u2019s training camp in Toronto.<br \/>\n\u201cI know they\u2019re probably ecstatic for the success that they had, and support is fully here throughout the whole country, no matter what,\u201d said Brooks, a small forward with the Phoenix Suns. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see who they play next in the next round.\u201d<br \/>\nCanada\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team will face Puerto Rico on Friday and Jamaica on July 6 at Hamilton\u2019s TD Coliseum as they continue their drive to qualify for the FIBA World Cup. Canada is atop Group B with a perfect 4-0 record with the two games left in the qualifying stage.<br \/>\n\u201cI don\u2019t know much about soccer, but I support Canada,\u201d said Alexander-Walker, a guard with the Atlanta Hawks. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty much it.\u201d<br \/>\nThis report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>14<br \/> -13\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Canadian Press on June 29, 2026. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander speaks to media at the training camp roster announcement&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-769300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}