The Blues are back.
Nine months after the last meeting, the French basketball team has been meeting since Sunday in Pau.
No NBA player, or Euroleague resident, but a group led by captain Andrew Albicy, Mathias Lessort, Axel Julien, Amath M'Baye or Yakuba Ouattara, called in reinforcement on Monday following the package of Mam Jaiteh, positive at Covid-19.
Express preparation and two matches on the menu for Vincent Collet's players, Friday against Great Britain and Sunday, against Germany.
The @FRABasketball, loyal for 11 years, settles in Pau until 2023!
Since 2009, the French basketball team has been preparing in Pau for its major international events.
This loyalty is extended by agreement at least until 2023 ▶ https://t.co/5pAFmaJmzrpic.twitter.com/fCc6OddzNX
- City of Pau (@Ville_Pau) November 23, 2020
Meetings that count for the qualifiers for Euro 2022. And everything will take place in a bubble, in Pau.
Obviously, the Tricolores are housed at Villa Navarre.
“In a climate, a rather difficult context, it was important to be able to come together, to play these matches and to be able to do them in France, in Pau, savors Boris Diaw, deputy general manager of the France team.
It proves that we did things well and suddenly we are trying to tackle two issues, sporting and health, simultaneously. "
All this will take place behind closed doors, coronavirus requires.
“Frustration?
Of course, recognizes "Babac".
But like all clubs and all world sport.
To do it here, we are happy with it because we have no choice. "
"The game against Great Britain on Friday is really the more crucial of the two, even if we want to win both games"
Vincent Collet
In sporting terms, the stakes are clear for Vincent Collet: “Take one or two steps towards qualification.
We started with a defeat in Germany (83-69) which weighs us down a bit.
And the Germans can only harm us since they are not concerned by this race for qualification (as an organizing country, Germany is already qualified, editor's note).
It is therefore very important to beat Great Britain and thus confirm our victory against Montenegro (85-66).
In this case, the last window of February would allow us to definitively ensure our qualification.
The game against Great Britain on Friday is really the more crucial of the two, even if we want to win both games. ”
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The national coach is obviously wary of this British team, not necessarily very referenced at the international level (42nd in the Fiba ranking, France is 6th) but which is "the most athletic of the pool" with the Blues, as indicated by former Strasbourg coach.
“It's a very committed basketball.
Expect a little fight.
They play with their weapons.
And there is the British mindset.
Let’s be ready! ”
The week of the Blues and the qualifying matches for EuroBasket 2022, it's to be followed on the TikTok account of the French BasketBall Federation
We are expecting you #TeamFranceBaskethttps: //t.co/qjHdAQKhdv
- French Basketball Teams ⛹️♂️⛹️♀️ (@FRABasketball) November 23, 2020
And to continue: “We must be careful not to think that it will be an easy match.
It will be a complicated game.
And so it's important to have players who have this experience and who will, in addition to the staff, help the newcomers to have the right attitude.
We have to be aggressive, committed, and not let these teams easily settle into the match, unfold, because in this case you are in danger.
The players from Great Britain who are here this week are the ones who have been there for several years.
They have a bit of the characteristics of a club team.
This is an important element. ”
Some of these British players are also well known in France for evolving in Jeep Elite, like the Chalonnais Myles Hesson.
Beware of overconfidence, then.
Especially since the France group is discovering itself this week.
Defense as a watchword
Good news ?
No physical problem for these Blues, gathered in Pau since Sunday.
Actors of the derby of the 92 between Boulogne-Levallois and Nanterre, Sunday, David Michineau, Lahaou Konate and Isaïa Cordinier, however, only arrived on Monday.
Ouattara, he is only expected this Tuesday.
Charge to coach Collet to create a team in a few days, by sharing the training slots with the other selections on the boards of the Palais des Sports in Pau.
“The less preparation time and the more the defensive aspects prevail,” assures the national coach.
If we are able to defend well, that will allow us to have more rhythm, fast play and to make the difference like that. ”
The watchword is therefore dropped: defense.
As usual in short.
“And Andrew is the right player to lead by example,” he swears.
“The condition of the group is pretty good.
In the state of mind, on what we saw this morning, we feel that it is consistent with previous windows, with a desire to do well, reported Vincent Collet on Monday.
Despite everything, it will be necessary to be able, in just four days, to manage to play together and especially to find an efficiency.
Cohesion must first be operational.
We saw in Germany, in February, that after a preparation which seemed very interesting to us, we had been put in difficulty by German aggressiveness.
The leitmotif of the four days of preparation will really be to defend hard on Friday. ”
And to avoid unpleasant surprises ... As against Germany last February on the side of Vechta ...
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