Some might say that the hardest part is over since yesterday’s hard won victory against Lithuania, but here we prefer to play it safe by saying that there is still a long way to go. Very long. New stage this evening against Hungary, a team supposed to be the weakest in this Group B and therefore… the French team has no room for error. Never.
Bullshit is over. Past the false start, a crappy defeat against Germany and still in everyone’s mind, the Blues must pass the second. Yesterday’s victory against the Lithuanians is really good news and proves that the Blues have a great ability to react, but tonight we simply must not take the Hungarians lightly. Hungarians who participate in their second consecutive Euro for… the first time in their history, Hungarians driven by a star – Adam Hanga – who is not even sure to play (absent yesterday with hamstring pain), Hungarians already defeated twice in two games against Bosnia and Slovenia. Once again the adversary is one thing, but once again France’s main adversary will be… France, oh how banal you might say, but it’s so true.
There have been many satisfactions since yesterday and Vincent Collet’s men will have to confirm that this return to form was not a sham. No info for the moment on the starting five that Doc Vince will line up but we imagine that Terry Tarpey will be there again after his big performance the day before, to see now who from Thomas Heurtel, Andrew Albicy, Elie Okobo or even Théo Maledon (DNP yesterday) will accompany TT on the backcourt. We also hope to see even more minutes from Moustapha Fall, because he needs them to find the rhythm and because he was very good yesterday.and we also hope to see Rudy Gobert reassure himself after a barely average start to the competition.
The main stakes of this match? Take an option on third place, or even on second if Lithuania were to react against the German host. With two victories in three games and two last meetings scheduled against Slovenia and Bosnia, a victory tonight would almost ensure qualification for the Blues but without guaranteeing a preferential spot before the eighth, the kind of spot that would avoid a tricky match against Spain or Turkey right out of the pool. Some might say that the hardest part is over since yesterday’s hard won victory against Lithuania, but here we prefer to play it safe by saying that there is still a long way to go. Very long. New stage this evening against Hungary, a team supposed to be the weakest in this Group B and therefore… the French team has no room for error. Never.
Did we copy the intro to end it? Indeed, we did. See you at 8:30 p.m. hoping to see the Blues take this match very seriously, it will take at least that to continue to move forward serenely.