For the first round of the 1986 World Championship, Argentina was part of Group D with Yugoslavia, Canada, the Netherlands, Malaysia and New Zealand. The key match for obtaining qualification was the debut against the Netherlands, in which the youngster Rik Smits (19 years of age and ) scored 25 points. However, Argentina won in extra time 82–75, with good contributions from the substitutes Campana (13 points) and Uranga (16). There were no surprises in the other 4 games: Argentina lost to Canada (82–96) and Yugoslavia (68–87) and defeated both Malaysia (93–73) and New Zealand (89–64), effectively qualifying for the second round of the tournament.