We were a little scared, so much so that after seven or eight minutes we wondered if the FFBB hadn’t sent holograms to Prague. But little by little, the France group took over the already eliminated Czechs to go and scratch a logical victory. Mission accomplished, see you Sunday in Trélazé.
The match stats made in FIBA (but not fake) are right here
A delay in ignition, then it rolls out.
For this penultimate qualifying match for the 2023 World Cup, the Blues therefore had an appointment in Prague. A team already qualified against another… already eliminated, not necessarily enough to promise a masterclass of intensity, and at the start of the match it is the Blues who are next to their pumps.
Victor Wembanyama celebrates his third selection but for the third time he is used at the start of the match as a screener, spends too much time away from the circle and has his neck massaged by Balvin as soon as he approaches the circle. Opposite the Czechs think they are the Warriors and when a team returns all its shots and the other does not put one, what happens to the mathematicians? Elementary my dear Watson, the gap is widening.
13-1 then 21-3 then 30-11 for the locals, nah but what is this barouf, but fortunately the entry of Hugo Benitez aka Hugo Boss aka the Little Prince of Ekinox did good to the Blues at the end of the first quarter, and from the second act things will gradually return to normal.
Victor Wembanyama raises his tone in defense and will eventually take his shots gradually to finish with 22 points, 17 rebounds, 4 steals and 6 blocks, a line of stats that no longer surprises anyoneand all around him is Vincent Collet’s collective that gets going.
#WorldCupQualifiers | ???? ???? Victor Wembanyama’s masterful back tap!!! The Mets player, already at 11pts, carries France in this start of the third quarter against the Czech Republic
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— francetvsport (@francetvsport) February 23, 2023
Sylvain Francisco in charge, the eternal Nicolas Lang and Paul Lacombe who do the job in attack and the young Yoan Makoundou who for his part depresses the Czech attackers while ensuring on the other side of the fieldand quite logically therefore… the score will be reversed and the Blues will seek this success, which seems useless but which is not… because the draw for the final phase of the World Cup will take the ranking as granted world to decide on his favorites and that in these conditions any victory is therefore good to take.
#WorldCupQualifiers | ???? New high-class action between Sylvain Francisco passing and Victor Wembanyama finishing against the Czechs on this stratospheric alley-oop…
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— francetvsport (@francetvsport) February 23, 2023
72-59 score final, on a failli ragequit after ten minutes but we did well to stay. And if you still doubted it, here are two statements: 1) the talent pool is incredible in France and 2) the Wemby Mania has only just begun.