Evan Fournier (captain of the France team,
after qualifying for the Euro final thanks to a 95-54 success against Poland
)
: "
I found my team, the one in which I have 100% confidence, whatever the adversity, that of the Olympic Games, the World Cup.
It was fun.
I think there was not much doubt about the outcome of the game.
Being on the bench in the last quarter allows the body to really come down.
Tonight, we're not going to sleep too late.
This is important because otherwise the adrenaline will leave you awake for a long time.
And then it allows important guys like Mous' (Fall), Vincent (Poirier) or Élie Okobo to take minutes, to flourish and stay focused on the game plan.
You have to do the same thing, with the mentality.
We must not tell ourselves that everything went well and that it will necessarily be the same next time.
»
Guerschon Yabusele (strong winger for the France team and MVP of the match with his 22 points)
: “
We were very good in defense, very aggressive, we made everything difficult for them.
We shared the ball well, we made 32 assists, which is a lot in one game.
(...) The two teams against which we are going to play (Germany or Spain, opposed in the other half, editor's note) are very different from the Americans (against whom the Blues played and lost the final of the Olympic Games last year, editor's note).
But it serves as our experience of the finals.
We will focus on the opposing major players and on our game plan.
But above all, we have to stay together, in attack and in defense.
When this is the case, we are really a difficult team to play.
»
There was not a drop in speed for a single minute.
Rudy Gobert
Rudy Gobert (pivot of the France team)
: “
It's nice to play a match during which we really defended forty minutes.
When we started training, we said we wanted to be a defensive team and tonight we showed that we could be.
We have one game left.
If we have the same focus in defense and if in attack we don't lose the ball and we move well like tonight, we will be in a good position to win.
(…) We can be very annoying defensively.
I'm really proud of the spirit.
There was not a drop in speed for a single minute.
(...) Even with a thirty-point lead, we didn't give up.
Each player entered the field with intensity, gave their all.
This is the team we want to be.
(...) The shots, sometimes they fit, sometimes they don't, but what we can control is the
state of mind for forty minutes.
In general, when you have that, the rest follows.
»
Comments collected in the mixed zone and at a press conference
