Flamengo didn't have a strong first half and, despite rallying in the final two periods, failed to beat Mexico's Halcones Rojos on Tuesday night in their second game in the Basketball League of the Americas. The result means the Gávea team will have to wait until the end of the match between Capitanes de Arecibo and Espartanos de Margarita, the home team, later on Tuesday, to find out how many points Mengão will need to beat the local team by on Wednesday night to continue dreaming of a spot in the Final Four.

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Despite this, coach Paulo Chupeta doesn't want to let his team get discouraged. The Flamengo coach analyzed the team's performance in the match against the Mexicans and expressed great confidence in his squad. The current two-time national champion, five-time Rio de Janeiro champion, and South American champion, Flamengo, despite being without star player Marcelinho Machado, has a very strong squad and can indeed secure a spot in the final four.

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"We had a good start to the game, but the team fell apart in the second quarter. The second half was even, but unfortunately we lost by small margins. The team can't get discouraged now, because there's another game tomorrow and we have the ability to leave here with that spot in the Final Four," analyzed the coach.

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In a best-case scenario, Flamengo may need only a simple victory against Espartanos de Margarita to secure their spot in the next round. One positive point in Flamengo's favor is that their duel against the home team will be the key game of Wednesday night. In other words, the team already knows the outcome of the match between Capitanes de Arecibo and Halcones Rojos. If the predictions are correct, Capitanes will prevail on Tuesday night and also against the Mexicans, reaching two wins. However, since Flamengo won the head-to-head match against the Puerto Ricans by 15 points, they would only need a victory over Espartanos to qualify.