After the miraculous victory against Japan, then Germany's success against Brazil, the Blues are therefore in the quarter-finals of their 2024 Olympic Games. But that is the only certainty surrounding this team.
Evan Fournier tilts like this when the ” Status “ of the'French team is mentioned in the mixed zone. “But what status do we have?” he asks, while the core of this group was nevertheless Olympic vice-champion in 2021 then European vice-champion in 2022. “But that was two or three years ago. We play differently, we want to develop a different game. Every year, we start from scratch. When we arrive at the Games (in Tokyo), we don't say to ourselves that we are third in the world championship (2019), we don't care. For me, we have no status.”
A vision shared by Vincent Collet.
” I think so “ confirms the coach of the Blues. “I thought so a little before we started the competition but it's hard to say. We mustn't damage the players' confidence and their self-esteem but compared to what I know and the opponents… What Canada is doing doesn't surprise me at all. If we didn't understand last year, today, they're the second best team in the world behind Team USA and they're not very, very far away. When you look at their backcourt, I don't know where it's strongest. You have to accept that.”
But if the French team must regain certainty about its place on the world stage, it must above all regain certainty in its game, while the “five majors” are multiplying.
“How I see it, or how I would like people to see it, is that these were the two games where we were favorites and from now on, we are going to be outsiders.”
Against Japan, Vincent Collet replaced Matthew Strazel with Andrew Albicy in the starting line-up. Then he started the second half in “small ball”, leaving Victor Wembanyama as the only inside player.
In the previous match, he had already left Rudy Gobert on the bench after the break…
The technician thus repeats that he never knows which player will perform, especially on the back lines. Interestingly, after the first match, he had spoken about his “attackers”the team therefore seems to be divided between purely offensive profiles and others purely defensive, on a piano that he has great difficulty in tuning.
With a balance still poorly defined around Victor Wembanyama, the status of the Blues is therefore very unclear.
“How I see it, or how I would like people to see it, is that these were the two games where we were favorites and from now on, we are going to be outsiders.” concludes Evan Fournier, before the match against Germany and then the quarter-final. “Maybe it will make us play better, I don't know. But I have the impression that this group, which I have known since 2019, plays better like that. When we are hungry.”
Interview conducted in Villeneuve d'Ascq
