The French female basketball team lost on Tuesday against the Serbs for the last day of the World Cup group phase. They could face the United States or China in quarters.
by (with AFP)
The path to the summits will be damaged for the Blue. Beaten by Serbia, Tuesday, September 27, in the last match of the group phase of the World Cup (62-68), the players of the French female basketball team are complicated for the rest of the competition . Already qualified for the quarterfinals, the teammates of Marine Faith (11 points and 4 assists), almost assured not to be head of standard, will have to wait for the draw for the quarter -finals on Tuesday to find out their opponent. But it will be in size: unless a victory for the Japanese, already eliminated, against Australians at home on Tuesday, the Bleues will find on their way either the American scarecrow – which has won all international competitions since 2008 – or China.
The French knew that a victory against Serbia would open a more affordable painting to them. To prevent the teams from calculating in the last group matches, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) established a draw for the final stages, during which the first two of each group are guaranteed to face the third or fourth on the other hen. But after their defeat against Canada, the Blue conceded a second defeat (in five games), faced with their biggest continental rivals.
“It’s going to be a fight, you will have to be serene. When we play against them, that’s what is lacking,” warned the tricolor captain, Sarah Michel, before the meeting. Because the Blue and the Balkan players know each other very well. In 2021, the Serbs had won in the Euro final, before seeing Sandrine Gruda’s teammates – absent at the World Cup due to an injury – win in the bronze medal at the Olympic Games Tokyo. Largely renewed, due to international injuries and pensions, the two teams nevertheless intended to continue their explanations in this capital match at the Australian World Cup. “When we know the France-Serbia rivalry, it will go very strongly, hit from the start, warned Marine Faith. We want to win everything.”
China or the United States probably in quarters
But faced with Serbia trained by Marina Maljkovic, daughter of the 1993 European champion on the bench of Limoges, Bozidar Maljkovic, the French were able to reproduce their performance on Tuesday, facing the Japanese Olympic vice-championnes (67-53). Worn by the leader of American origin, Yvonne Anderson (18 points), the Serbs calmed the ardor of the Blue. Led throughout the game, but returning several times in contact with Serbia, the players of Jean-Aimé Toupane successively lost foot at the end of the second and third quarter.
Once again, the Blue have caught their chronic concern since the start of the competition: rebounds. “We do a sport of possession, so when a shooting in two you give the opponent the opportunity to resume the ball, you spend your time defending,” insisted Jean-Aimé Toupane on Monday. With 44 rebounds conceded to the Serbs (including 16 offensive), against only 25 tricolor sockets, his troops were largely dominated on Tuesday. And if the game was played in the final seconds, on an unlikely Sasa Cado shot – hitherto mute at three points – nine meters with the board, the Blue left too many opportunities on the way to hope more.
sasa cadoooooo 🔥🔥🔥
#Fibawwc x @kssrbije 🇷🇸 https://t.co/q2d0a3mou3
Deprived of many executives (including Sandrine Gruda, Endy Miyem, Marine Johannès, etc.) for this competition, the partners of Gabby Williams have extracted from an extremely raised group and will compete in the quarter -finals of the Australian World Cup. But they may come across the Americans, immense favorites of the tournament, even in the absence of the Brittney Griner pivot, still imprisoned in Russia; or China, which has impressed since the start of the competition.