The die is cast.
Almost… Just over two months before the European Championship but three weeks before the gathering on July 29, at Insep, Vincent Collet unveiled this Thursday the list of players called up for EuroBasket 2022 (1st- September 18).
An enlarged group of xx players, as
the coach of the French basketball team had suggested on Monday, after the trip against Hungary (81-40), in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup.
'we have the 12 for the Euro very quickly because the preparation is short and each time we have to select, we lose a little time
, ”he said, after the match, on
beIN SPORTS
.
In this list, we find nine of the 12 silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, including the innkeepers Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert of course, but also Moustapha Fall, Gerschon Yabusele or Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, "
pillars of last year's team
” according to coach Collet.
Also present in Japan, Andrew Albicy, Thomas Heurtel, Frank Ntilikina and Vincent Poirier are among them.
As expected, Nicolas Batum and Nando de Colo are not among them, they who prefer to “break” this summer in order to better get back to business for the next deadlines, the 2023 World Cup and of course the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The absences of Nando De Colo and Nico Batum are not going to be filled as easily as one might sometimes think
“reminded Vincent Collet Monday to those who doubt it.
Petr Cornelie is not called.
It was in response to a question about the performance of Theo Maldeon, brilliant during the last window and who this time said yes to the national team after declining the invitation last summer.
The Oklahoma City player returned to this refusal last year for
Le Figaro
a few weeks ago.
“
He is talented.
He is one of the players that we must drive, coach so that they progress because we will need these young people to do something
, ”said Vincent Collet after Hungary.
Wembanyama yes, Talker no
Among the notable information on this list for the Euro, there is obviously Victor Wembanyama's first call.
From the top of his 2.19m and at only 18 years old, the phenomenon from Ile-de-France will take the pulse of the France team.
The beginning of a long story, we can imagine… After a year at Asvel, the former Nanterre will join Boulogne-Levallois, coached by Vincent Collet, but his future is already mapped out: he will join the NBA as soon as 2023. He is promised a selection in the first choices of the Draft, even the first.
A new one with Wembanyama, and a ghost with Fabien Causeur?
It's no.
At 35, the former Choletais is still dashing.
He proved it during the conquest of a new Spanish league title with Real Madrid, alongside Poirier,
In my head, the Blues, it was a page turned.
But the opportunity is tempting
, ”he said in
L'Équipe
., he who we imagined in the list.
Finally, he is not one of them.
Note that Amath Mbaye, package for the last Olympic campaign but “tanned” at the 2019 World Cup, is back.
French champion and MVP of the final with Asvel, Elie Okobo, who had expressed his desire to wear the jersey struck by the rooster a few weeks ago for
Le Figaro
, is also part of the list, like Isaia Cordinier, Mam Jaiteh, William Howard and Terry Tarpey.
Not Louis Labeyrie, Yakuba Ouattara or Mathias Lessort.
Nor do NBAers Kilian Hayes, Jaylen Hoard or Axel Toupane.
The Blues at Bercy on August 24
The program of the France team this summer?
Four “
real
” preparation matches, against the Netherlands (August 7 in Rouen), Italy twice (August 12 in Bologna and August 16 in Montpellier) and Belgium (August 18 in Montpellier).
The Blues will then face the Czech Republic on August 24 at the Accor Arena - where the first phase of the Olympic tournament is still not scheduled to take place in 2024 - and Bosnia and Herzegovina three days later, in trip, two matches that will count for the second qualifying phase for the 2023 World Cup. It will then be time to turn to EuroBasket 2002, with Germany, Lithuania, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia On the menu.
There is no more.
