Croatia beat Lithuania 90-81 in the final preliminary round game of the Olympic men’s basketball tournament, vaulting from fifth to the top of Group B and avoiding a nightmare quarter-final clash with the unbeaten US.

Instead, Argentina have drawn the short straw and will face the daunting task of taking down a United States team riding a 22-game Olympic win streak in their quest for a third straight Olympic gold medal.

The other quarter-finals, which will all be played today, feature a spicy match-up between Serbia and Croatia, a tip-off between old foes Spain and France and a contest between Australia and Lithuania.

While the US (5-0) finished group play as the only unbeaten team, their performances have, thus far, not won rave reviews.

But for all their struggles, no one is ready to downgrade the Americans from their lofty position as gold medal favourites.

“I still think they are the favourites for sure to win gold,” said Argentina’s veteran shooting guard Manu Ginobili.

“But after what happened the last two or three games, there are some doubts.”

Earlier, Brazil swallowed their sporting pride and cheered for Argentina but were left with a bad taste when their bitter rivals lost 92-73 to Spain to end their own hopes of advancing.

Women’s QFs: Serbia vs Australia 73-71; Spain vs Turkey 64-62.

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