Qualified for the semi-finals of the Euro after their victory against Italy this afternoon, the French team now knows their opponent! While we were waiting for revenge against Luka Doncic’s Slovenia, it is finally Poland who will face the Blues this Friday at 5.15 p.m.!
Yet the planets seemed aligned for a hot reunion. France, Slovenia, one year after a duel of madness at the Olympic Games… in the semi-finals. The image would have been superb. There is also this group match which gave us mouth water before a possible remake in the last four. Well no, there won’t be any of that because Slovenia didn’t follow the plan. Eliminated, she leaves a courageous team from Poland to continue its beautiful history in this tournament. Led by a Mateusz Ponitka on fire (26 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals), the “Eagles” managed to afford the scalp of Luka Doncic and Slovenia, incidentally the reigning European champion. A little historical point to realize the scale of the upcoming party in Warsaw: the Poles had not reached the last four of a EuroBasket since… 1971! To equal their best performance, a silver medal in 1963, it will therefore be necessary to put down the French team.
On the edge of the abyss in the eighth and then in the quarter, the Blues will try to overcome this new obstacle, if possible without causing heart attacks among their fans. After Turkey then Italy, Poland appears as an opponent well within the ropes of the tricolors. It is precisely in this kind of scenario that France must be as wary and as serious as possible. Beating a big chunk and then slacking off against a team you least expect, you’re starting to get to know France and not just for the orange ball. It will therefore be necessary to put out Ponitka, Slaughter and company from the first minute if we want to face Dennis Schroder’s Germany or Rudy Fernandez’s Spain in the final. We thought we’d miss out twice, but there are only 40 minutes separating the Blues from a Euro final. Now is not the time to flinch!
France-Poland is the poster that we did not really expect but the objective of the French team does not change an inch. We will have to roll up our sleeves and deserve this final. See you on Friday for a new crazy match in this EuroBasket 2022.