SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - Injuries affecting Carlos Morais and Assem Marei could define the outcome of Angola and Egypt at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

While Morais was officially ruled out of the tournament last week, Marei's situation is yet to be decided.

Last summer, the two players were highly influential in the fortunes of their national teams at AfroBasket 2013 - therefore neither will be able to show their potential at the upcoming world stage event.

In this column, I'll be treating Marei's absence as hypothetical only, although sources with knowledge in his situation say he most likely won't play for Egypt in Spain.

A couple of weeks ago, Marei - who led Minnesota State University (MSU) in scoring and rebounding this past season - told me his knee was not close to full recovery, and admitted missing out his world stage debut at senior level.

Marei means so much to Egypt's national team that, with two weeks to go before the start of the World Cup, the team's head coach Amr Aboul Kheir is yet to make his mind up about the 22-year-old's selection.

When I asked him on Sunday 17 August how he felt about the prospect of Marei being sidelined, Aboul Kheir responded that Marei's situation was going to be decided this coming week, making me think that he still considers to select the 2.06m center, no matter his healthy condition.

Marei matters to Egypt as a result of his consistent and impressive performances last summer in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, where his short-handed team conceded three consecutive defeats early in the tournament, before bouncing back and upsetting title frontrunners Tunisia and Senegal.

Even if Marei, who last played a competitive game in March, and underwent a knee surgery in May, is healthy in the next two weeks time, it is unlikely he would do much to help Egypt in their Group A, which consists of Serbia, France, Spain, Brazil and Iran.

It would be great to see Marei - one of the top prospects in college basketball - battling in the paint area against household names such as his childhood idol Pau Gasol of Spain or Tiago Splitter of Brazil. Nevertheless his health comes first, and if he does miss the World Cup because of his knee condition, surely he will have a lot more to more offer, starting with his senior year at MSU.

As for Morais, months of speculation about his heath condition - which forced him to sit out a number of games for his club of Recreativo do Libolo - everything became clear last week when he announced he was pulling out because of a knee injury.

Given his role in Angola's offensive game, the attention now turns to Roberto Fortes, who filled Morais' place in the preliminary squad.

Fortes featured for Angola at the World Cup four years ago.

He has improved his shooting skills visibly over the course of the past few seasons, though few know whether the 30-year-old can make the final 12-player roster.

Judging by what Angola's training camp has been like over the past month and half, both Valdelicio Joaquim and Eduardo Mingas are set to become the difference-makers.

It has been a year since Morais and Marei headlined last summer's All-Tournament Team at FIBA Africa's flagship competition, along with Mingas, Souleymane Diabate of Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal's Maleye Ndoye. Now, it turns out that two of Africa's current finest players might not be where they should.

It is up to Ndoye and Mingas to make the most of their African top performers credentials.

Julio Chitunda

FIBA

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