DUBAI (FIBA U17 World Championship) - China will be looking to hand the United States their first-ever loss in tournament history as they tackle the two-time reigning undefeated champions in Thursday's first Quarter-Final of the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship at the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Sports Complex.

That will be followed by an intriguing Americas-European battle between Canada and Serbia, while Australia face Puerto Rico with their sights set on moving just one step away from returning to the Final and traditional European powers France and Spain clash to finish the night.

China have finished seventh in the first two editions of the FIBA U17 World Championship and will have to beat the USA in the Last Eight in order to improve that mark. But that will be a tall order for the Asians, who beat Italy to get this far.

China rely heavily on the trio of Zhao Yinhao, Hu Jianqiu and Fu Hao, who have produced 75 percent of the country's points in the tournament. The Americans' length and depth will be tough for China to match and someone other than the big three will have to step up for China.

The USA really have a dozen different weapons who can beat opposing teams, with seven players scoring in double figures for the number one offense in the competition, topped by Diamond Stone (14.0 points per game) and Malik Newman (13.0).

The winners of USA v China match-up will face off in the Semi-Finals against the victors between Canada and Serbia.

This one promises to be a fun match-up in the backcourt between Canada's Jamal Murray and Howard Washington Jr and the Serbians' Stefan Peno and Vojislav Stojanovic. Both teams are without an important big man who had to leave the team just before coming to Dubai, meaning the Kalif Young-David Miladinovic battle in the point will play a key role in the game.

The low post will definitely be a focus of the third Quarter-Final between Australia and Puerto Rico. Australian center Isaac Humphries is playing his way into being an MVP candidate as he's third in the competition in scoring (21.5 points per game), third in rebounds (13.8 rebounds) and second in block shots (3.8 blocks), while shooting 55 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free-throw line and also dishing out 2.0 assists per game - the most for a center in the Championship.

Puerto Rico's big man Arnaldo Toro has been fantastic with 16.0 points, 14.0 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals per contest. But the at 2.05, he is giving away five centimetres to Humphries, who has collected 61 points, 35 rebounds, six blocks and three assists while shooting 65 percent from the field in the last two games against Canada and Greece.

Puerto Rico for their part will need Ivan Gandia and Leandro Allende to produce offensively and keep Australia's Dejan Vasiljevic from heating back up - having scored 41 points in the first two contests but just 17 points on 6 of 26 shots in the last two.

The winners of the Australia-Puerto Rico match-uo will take on a European team in the Last Four as France hook horns with Spain in the last Quarter-Final.

France are led by the low post duo of Stephane Gombauld and Amine Noua while Spain know they will get production from Santiago Yusta but have yet to see Xabi Lopez-Arosteguj perform consistently, averaging 10.8 points per game on 41 percent shooting and just 29 percent from beyond the three-point stripe.

All Final Phase games can be seen live and for free (registration required; no subscription necessary) on LiveBasketball.tv.

Meanwhile, on the first day of the Classification Games 9-16 at Al Shabab Arena, Japan take on Italy, followed by Angola facing hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE), with Greece going up against Egypt and the action concludes with a clash between the Philippines and Argentina.

All Classification Games are available live on youtube.com/fiba.

FIBA