In the press box at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, everyone had their eyes glued to the different possible scenarios, with a calculator at hand. It was the same for the coaches and players of both teams.
Brian Goorjian, the Australian coach, admits to having spoken to his players about the margin at the end of the match.
“I spoke to them about it, obviously, at half-time. We had to win but we knew the numbers, in the last minutes” explains the Boomers coach. “Because with the points, we play a little differently. We were aware of it, we talked about it and we defended the last minutes based on that.”
For Australia, this six-point defeat simplifies things: because a victory for Canada (17:15) would put Australia in second position in the group, and therefore qualified for the quarter-finals, Greece finishing third and Spain fourth, and therefore eliminated. On the other hand, in the event of a victory for Spain, everything would be turned upside down, with La Roja finishing first, Canada second, Greece third and Australia fourth, and therefore eliminated…
Australia supports Canada, Greece supports Serbia
For Greece, it's a little more complicated, because the Hellenic selection will finish third in its group and its “point average” (-8) is less good than that of Brazil (-7), 3rd in Group B. To go through, it must be better than the 3rd in Group C, and therefore hope that Serbia triumphs over South Sudan by at least three points…
“It’s going to be stressful.” recognizes Thomas Walkup “As a professional basketball player, you stop cheering for teams. But now you're going to cheer for others, like kids watching TV, following the score.”
But the naturalized person appreciates the experience.
“It’s fun, really fun. It’s very different from what we do in the club and now we go and watch other teams and it’s so intense. It goes from one team to another. We’re going to be fans of the game again for a few hours. It’s fun, it’s exciting and I’m happy to be a part of it all.” he concludes.
Interview conducted in Villeneuve d'Ascq
