I read the following sentence in a book:
The U.S basketball team have no illusions that they can beat Lithuania.
Given that the U.S would have been red hot favourites for this game I found this sentence peculiar to say the least.
For me, the "illusion" is qualified by "that they can beat". To not have that illusion would suggest that they don't believe they could beat Lithuania.
Someone told me that "no illusion" must mean to be convinced or very aware but I do not understand how it could mean that. Can anyone help me?
Best Answer
"The U.S basketball team have no illusions that they can beat Lithuania" means that U.S. team is rightly convinced that it cannot beat Lithuania. This seems like it must be a typographical error, because, yes, the U.S. team (i.e., a team of major college and/or professional players, as in the Olympics) would certainly be favored over Lithuania. Be that as it may, the opposite would be "The U.S. team has the illusion that it can beat Lithuania," meaning that the U.S. team believes it can win, but that the speaker believes this is an impossibility. In both cases, the speaker is convinced the U.S. cannot win--perhaps the speaker is a Lithuanian? In your sentence, the U.S. agrees with this assessment--it cannot win; in the opposite, the U.S. disagrees with the idea that it cannot win, but the speaker remains convinced that it cannot.