Germany and Serbia set up a Basketball World Cup final showdown, as the United States and Canada both crashed out in the semi-finals.

The US were looking to atone for their seventh-place finish at the tournament in China four years ago but they lost 113-111 after facing an inspired German team in Manila.

The Germans went toe-to-toe with their more celebrated opponents and will now play in their first-ever World Cup final on Sunday.

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Head coach Gordon Herbert hailed his “special group” of players but said they were “not where we want to be yet”.

“This group of players wants to win gold,” he said.

“One more to go. We’ll let the players enjoy this tonight and tomorrow morning when we wake up, this is over.”

Andreas Obst, who was a constant thorn in the Americans’ side, finished as Germany’s top scorer with 24 points.

Franz Wagner with 22 points and Daniel Theis with 21 also made huge contributions.

Things started to go wrong for the US in the third quarter when Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson both made simple mistakes to hand Germany a six-point lead.

Germany built on the advantage and Dennis Schroder nailed a shot to put his team 10 points ahead at the end of the third quarter.

US head coach Steve Kerr said his team “weren’t able to make them feel us defensively”.

“I thought we made some mistakes,” he said.

“It sounds crazy but the first offensive rebound of the game we got boxed out. Right from the beginning you’ve got to set a tone.”

Anthony Edwards finished as the United States’ top scorer with 23 points, followed by Austin Reaves with 21 and Mikal Bridges with 17.

“Any time you lose, it sucks,” said Reaves.

“As a competitor, losing is the worst thing that can possibly happen.” It was the United States’ second defeat of the tournament, having lost to Lithuania in the second round.

Germany are still unbeaten and centre Johannes Voigtmann said they had a “chance to do something historic” in Sunday’s final.

“We’re going to do everything from tomorrow on to prepare mentally for this game, because this is the most important one we have to win,” he said.

Media personality Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN’s ‘First Take’ that USA’s shock loss gives credence to controversial comments from American track and field star Noah Lyles last week.

“You know the thing that hurts me the most? I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their heads,” Lyles said at the time when asked about the state of athletics on a global scale.

“World champion of what? The United States?

“Don’t get me wrong. I love the US at times. But that ain’t the world. That is not the world – we are the world.

“We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving and putting on a flag to show that they are represented.

“There ain’t no flags in the NBA. We got to do more. We got to be presented to the world.

“I love the track community, but we can only do so much within our own bubble. There’s a whole world out there.”

Those comments, which came after Lyles won a third-straight world championships gold medal in the 200m, drew a reaction from NBA stars including Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

Both players will likely be part of USA’s Olympic team for Paris next year, although the fact they sat out the World Cup speaks to one of the challenges the nation faces on the global stage.

It is a point Smith made when claiming USA was “exposed” by Germany on Friday night.

“That’s glaring,” Smith said.

“And it gives credence to Noah Lyles … who basically said, ‘This ain’t no world championship when they win the NBA championship, because the NBA championship is not the world.’

“International competition is different and the USA gets exposed because [of] their lack of depth [and] lack of cohesiveness compared to some of these other teams. It speaks volumes and this is the latest example.”

SERBIA STUN CANADA AS SGA SHUT DOWN

Serbia will be waiting for them after beating Canada 95-86 in the day’s first semi-final.

Bogdan Bogdanovic had another standout performance for the Serbians, scoring 23 points and racking up three assists and four rebounds.

Serbia lost in their only previous final appearance as an independent country in 2014, and shooting guard Marko Guduric said they were ready to play “the biggest game of our lives” against Germany.

“To represent our country and this jersey, for ourselves and our families and all the people in Serbia, it’s a great honour and we cannot wait for the final game,” he said.

Serbia seized control of the game in the first half against a Canada team playing in their first World Cup semi-final.

Canadian danger man Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was unable to get into a groove and finished with only 15 points.

“For our team it was additional motivation to take him out of the game,” said Serbia head coach Svetislav Pesic.

“Difficult, but I think we made this job with great success.”

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The Canadians had already secured a qualifying spot at the Paris Olympics after finishing as one of the two highest-placed teams from the Americas.

They still have the chance to claim their first-ever World Cup medal, and head coach Jordi Fernandez said he was “excited” about facing the US in Sunday’s third-fourth-place playoff.

“None of these guys have ever been in this position and to win it would mean we fought for something, but we know that we can still be better,” he said.

“We want to leave this tournament being hungry and being thirsty, and building this programme all the way to the top.”

Serbia have reached the final without Nikola Jokic, who was named MVP of the NBA Finals last season after leading the Denver Nuggets to the title.

Jokic is not playing at the World Cup as he prioritises rest ahead of the new season.

Guduric said “it doesn’t matter who’s not here”.

“It’s all about this group of guys,” he said.

“Whoever is here, whoever is wearing this Serbian jersey, we never give up. We fight until the end — it’s in our blood.”

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