By Philip Buda Ladu
South Sudanese basketball fans’ hope remains unshaken despite the national men’s basketball team losing their Olympic Group C’s second game by 103 to 86 points against the United States team on Wednesday night.
As the Bright Stars, battled the United States of America (USA) team in the Paris Olympics basketball showdown, they were cheered on by a huge home fan base in the capital, Juba, and across the country.
Nimra Talata Basketball Stadium in Juba, which is the biggest center where the games are being relayed live from Paris, witnessed a huge turnout of fans who braved the humid Wednesday night weather to pour out and support the bright stars as they battled the USA team—the giants of basketball in the world.
The highly contested Olympics encounter, however, saw the 13-year-old East African nation that just gained independence in July 2011 from Sudan overpowered by the USA powerhouse of all-time NBA stars.
Despite the bright stars losing by a 17-point margin to the USA in their first meeting in a competitive match, which came at the backdrop of the shocking friendly game USA narrowly winning by just a point, the Juba fans said they were not disappointed with the results but rather proud of the boys’ energy they displayed.
They expressed optimism that defeat to the USA will prepare the bright stars for serious revenge against Serbia in their last group game on Saturday, August 3, 2024, with a sure win that will propel South Sudan to the next stage of the tournament.
Willliam Madouk Mayom, a 30-year-old diehard fan of the bright stars, joined the tens and thousands of fans at Nimra Talata Basketball Stadium to cheer up his national basketball team.
He said the match between SSD and the USA was a great encounter, noting that America is not an easy team—the –bright stars were playing with the men at the gate of basketball.
“When you look at men like Lebron James, these are people who have been in the world of basketball as the best players for consecutive five years. These are not easy men, and when you look at teams like the USA and South Sudan, you cannot compare them. This is a 13-year-old baby that is competing with a nation that has been existing for centuries,” he stated.
Mayom, however, underscored that South Sudan proved a tough opponent. That’s why they were able to break a record of 28 years since 1996 that no African team had ever won a game in the Olympics, and they did it with Puerto Rico.
He added that the Bright Stars game with the USA was meant to provoke them into thinking that they are in a competition, and this will remind SSD of what Serbia did to them in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, saying they have to wage revenge to send Serbia home.
“We can come out as the best third team and we can still qualify, or we can beat Serbia and we will become second in the group, so we still have hope. I am not disappointed. I will still rally behind our boys and say we are proud of you,” Mayom expressed.
Another fan, Ajang Mou, 35, acknowledged that there is always win and lose in sports games and the team loses, but next time they will do something great.
“No problem, USA beat us, but Serbia, we will win against them. We are going to the quarterfinals or semifinals, so for South Sudan, it is not a great loss—difference of 17 points—that is not a great margin. We are a young nation, and the USA is a big nation. We are just 13 years old, and the USA is 248 years old,” he consoled himself.
Nyamal John, a 23-year-old fan of the Bright Stars, sounds confident despite the loss to the USA team, stating that “We’re really proud of the boys—it was just a difference of 17 points, and it’s not bad, unlike the way the United States beat Serbia.”
“So we still believe in our men, and we still know that they are going to keep up the work. Yeah, they might have lost today, but despite the loss, they are going to make use of it to win the next game against Serbia,” Nyamal continued.
“So we are still going to be there supporting them, and forever we are. We lose, but we still come back together. We are family, and we just have to stand up for ourselves. So we still have very high hope in our boys, the Bright Stars that they are going to win the last group game.”
Michael Acuil, a 56-year-old proud fan of the Bright Stars, described the Wednesday night game against the USA as awesome, saying he’s proud of “our young” men.
“You know playing against America to be close with that margin of 17 points difference is good for us,” he stated. “Now that we have one more game to go, we still have the window of opportunity to move up.
The USA beat Serbia by 36 points compared to South Sudan, which counted down the deficit to 17 points, which is better for Team SSD.
“South Sudan might get a third-high score, but we don’t want to do that. That’s why we want to beat Serbia thoroughly, so we will be going separately with the USA in different groups. We might reach the finals, so keep your fingers crossed. Our kids are good; they stood with the giants—America,” Acuil strongly opined.
Alma Marko, a 23-year-old young female fan like Acuil, also has high hopes that South Sudan will overthrow Serbia in their last group game.
“I am not so disappointed with the loss against the USA. I believe next time we will do better than tonight because our boys are now improving compared to the past. People lose and people win, but the next game against Serbia, we will win,” she expressed.
Deng George, a 35-year-old fan, also echoed the same sentiment.
Though Deng noted this game was hot, he said that was a good wake-up call for the young team to work extra hard in their next game.
“So I would say we didn’t lose badly, but this game is to challenge us to play hard next time. So I am not sad, but this is to empower us to play well in the next game against Serbia,” he stated.
Simon Aloro Aldo, a 26-year-old member of the “All Trust Bright Stars South Sudan” fan group, holds similar feelings to the majority of fans.
He said the loss would never hurt him because they still have hope and points for going into the quarterfinals.
“We still have our last important game, which will take us to the next level of the games. So there is nothing bad; we are still happy as South Sudanese, and we are proud of our nation, so no matter what the results, we still hope for good results that will come from Serbia’s game,” he emphasized.
Aldo hopes that the coach and Luol Deng will see the team’s weaknesses that made them lose this game and close the loopholes to beat Serbia.
“So Serbia, we are going to them as revenge; last time they beat us in the FIBA World Cup, this is the second time we are playing them, so the same thing we did to Puerto Rico, we will do to them,” he added.
Despite losing, the Bright Stars still have an opportunity to make history by advancing to the next round of the tournament. To do so, they must defeat Serbia in their final group game, which is scheduled for August 3, 2024.