Six months after the fiasco of the last World Cup, theFrench team made his return to Brest, as part of the qualifications for theEurobasket 2025with a first match against the Croatia by Mario Hezonja, teammate at Real Madrid of Vincent Poirier and Guerschon Yabusele, his opponents for the evening.
The Blues start in their weak shoes, with three direct losses of balls and poor choices in spades. With the Danko Brankovic pylon under the circle, Croatia takes the advantage (7-2), but Vincent Poirier restore order in the blue house by distilling the good moves. Guerschon Yabusele follows suit and slams a big dunk on a quick play.
Great premiere of Strazel
This highlight remains short-lived, with collective play still in its infancy and too much clumsiness on shots, like Yabusele at 0/4 at 3-points. Zacharie Risacher honors his first cape, under the eyes of his parents, and the Blues are in front by a short head at the end of a first quarter that was laborious to say the least (15-14).
There is better in the second. The intensity is starting to increase defensively, always a good sign for Vincent Collet. Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot And Matthew Strazel sanctioned at 3-points and the Blues began to catch some air (+11). Behind, above all, 10 quick points from the leader of Monaco, who celebrated his first international match in great style.
The end of the half was less well managed, with Mario Hezonja taking advantage of a dispensable foul from Paul Lacombe to make three free throws and bring Croatia back to just five lengths (35-30).
A convincing third quarter
Vincent Collet's speech was apparently understood, because the Blues resumed the match with firmness, imposing an 8-0 from the start, propelled by the duo of Azuréens, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot and Isaïa Cordinier, who combined on an “alley-oop” after a nice interception. Or with Vincent Poirier, who runs from the baseline to land an authoritarian two-handed dunk.
If Timpthé Luwawu-Cabarrot reaches fifteen, opposite, Mario Hezonja also begins to heat up with a big dunk and a nice finish while passing under the circle. Croatia is clearly a step below, but the French team leaves a lot of points on the way (14/23 on free throws and 5/19 on 3-pointers). And a nose for the new kid Zaccharie Risacher…
After a very timid first quarter and a second to reverse the trend in defense, the French troops began to convince in the third +12. Almost the gap before the final straight (57-44).
Still crumbly at the end of the match
The power of French interiors, with Mathias Lessort who crushes a dunk and Damien Inglis, still makes the Croatian defense suffer so much. But the latter still give themselves a chance, as Mario Hezonja brings them back below 10 points, three minutes from the end.
Top scorer of the match with 22 units, Mario Hezonja could not prevent the victory of France, simply superior in terms of talent. Still lacking benchmarks, and sometimes seriousness, the Blues are in any case fulfilling their mission with this success to properly launch this new campaign (73-61).
The Blues coach wanted “ re-impulse a dynamic » with this Breton window. It's done, after three generally positive days of training and an interesting trip to Tuzla (Bosnia-Herzegovina) on Monday.
Photo credit: FIBA.com
