BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : NIGHTMARE TEAM EMERGES FOR BRAZIL

One of the surprises of the basketball competition so far is that Brazil has lost its first two games, to Croatia and Spain.

The Brazilians gained attention by beating the United States in the 1987 Pan American Games, but they must finish among the top four teams in the six-team pool to advance to the medal round. Only three preliminary games are left, and one of those is a sure loss to the United States.

“Our goal now is to beat Angola and Germany,” Brazil Coach Jose Medalha said. “Our chances of being among the first four of the group are still good.”

As it stands now, however, Brazil will have a hard time cracking the top four of the United States and Germany, 2-0 each, and Croatia and Spain, 1-1 each.

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.