INDIANAPOLIS -- Argentina's win over Germany on Saturday didn't shock the world like the one over the United States, but this victory gives the South Americans a shot at gold.

Despite losing leading scorer Emanuel Genobili to an injury in the second quarter, Argentina beat Germany 86-80 in the World Championships semifinals.

The team that handed a U.S. team with NBA players its first loss ever earlier in the week will play for the gold medal on Sunday against the winner of the Yugoslavia-New Zealand semifinal.

Even before that game was decided Argentina center Ruben Wolkowyski guaranteed his team would win.

"We're going to do anything and everything possible to win,'' he said.

Argentina won the first World Championships in 1950 and hasn't finished better than sixth since.

When the game ended the Argentina players danced in front of their fans in the stands and then climbed courtside tables to celebrate. Genobili could only sit on the bench with his foot elevated as his teammates jumped, hugged and danced on the court.

Argentina coach Ruben Magnano wasn't worried his team wouldn't be able to come back to Earth for the title game.

"After the game against the United States the euphoria lasted for us for 15 minutes because we knew the game against Brazil was more important,'' he said, referring to the quarterfinal against Brazil a day after the 87-80 victory over the United States. "The way we look at things certainly history will tell that that game was more important.''

And there's one game left that's even more important.

Argentina's place in the finals came about because of great defense and the ability to handle the loss of Genobili.

Hugo Sconochini gave Argentina (8-0) the lead for good at 80-78 with two free throws with 44 seconds left.

Germany (5-3) wasn't able to get a good shot off on its next two possessions and Argentina scored after both for an 84-78 lead with 9.4 seconds left.

Dirk Nowitzki, an NBA all-star with the Dallas Mavericks and this tournament's leading scorer, had his second tough shooting game against Argentina. He finished 8-for-26 from the field and had 24 points Saturday.

In the first meeting, an 86-77 victory for Argentina, he was 3-for-17 and had 21 points.

Wolkowyski and Fabrico Oberto spent most of the game covering Nowitzki and he rarely took a shot when one or the other wasn't right in his face.

Sconochini had 18 points for Argentina, while Oberto had 17.

Genobili, who has signed with the San Antonio Spurs, came into the game averaging 16.9 points and 4.6 assists. He had nine points when he turned his right ankle after hitting a 3-pointer with 4:42 left in the first half.

"Everybody in the basketball world knows what Genobili's injury meant at this level,'' Magnano said, "but our way of thinking is to face the world with the soldiers we have and forget about the ones that are injured. This team didn't really miss Genobili and kept on fighting for the win.''

Magnano said there was no indication on how bad Genobili's injury was but he was never able to put any weight on it as he was helped to the locker room.

Its biggest attributes in the victory over the United States, balanced scoring and tough defense, allowed Argentina to make up for Genobili's loss and advance to the championship game.

Ademola Okulaja had 18 points for Germany and Mithat Demirel added 17.

Okulaja, who played at North Carolina, did a good job picking up the scoring slack as Nowitzki struggled. But he had a dunk attempt blocked by Wolkowyski with 50 seconds left and Argentina came down and took the lead for good six seconds later.

"Tonight we stayed with our game strategy for 36 minutes then we gave up too many points at the end of the game,'' Germany coach Henrik Dettmann said. "We just couldn't finish it.''

Germany, making its third appearance in the World Championships, was in the semifinals for the first time.