Vincent Collet's players will face Montenegro on Monday (6.45 p.m.) in Mouilleron-le-Captif at Vendespace. They are in a qualifying group with Germany, automatically qualified as host country, Montenegro and Great Britain, and must avoid the last place to qualify for Euro-2021.
The Blues, with a very young team (three novice players, the most capped of 12 players, Amath M'Baye, with only 18 selections), started the game well by mastering their subject for a quarter and a half. However, they displayed a very weak address, clearly below 35%, especially beyond the three-point line (3/24).
“Our start was interesting, but we didn't manage to take advantage of the offensive rebounds that we managed to take in the first quarter. We should have had a bigger advantage, but we didn't use these rebounds well, ”regretted the French coach at a press conference at the end of the game. “We suffered in the second quarter, when they performed better. They took the offensive rebounds and scored them. In the second half, most of the time it was not enough for international basketball, "continued Collet.
Bottle missed its match
The technician feared seeing his players inhibited by the pressure, while almost half of his group of 12 players experienced his first time in the blue jersey. If the leader of Boulogne-Levallois David Michineau (16 pts) and the pivot of Nanjing (China) Guershon Yabusele (13 pts) stood out, Axel Bouteille completely missed his match, with five small points, all marked on free throws, in 25 minutes of play.
Bouteille has however been dazzling since the start of the season with Bilbao (17.7 points on average, almost 50% at 3 points) in the Spanish championship. “It was a complicated game. We must congratulate the German team, which was stronger. We really have to be better at defense at this level, to help ourselves on the field. We missed a lot of shots, ”commented Yabusele at a press conference.
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