Dongguan (China) (AFP)

Aged 39, Luis Scola, the last survivor of the golden generation gold medalist at the Athens Olympics, and after a decade spent in the NBA, makes an exceptional World Cup with Argentina who faces Friday France in the semifinals in Beijing.

A challenge to time. The hair of the iconic Argentinian strong winger of 2.06 m is shorter than his debut in the NBA 12 years ago, a little whiter too ... But at an age when most of the old players have started their conversion, Scola, after 10 years spent in the NBA (2007-2017) including five seasons at the Houston Rockets (2007-2012), continues to align the baskets, perhaps even better than ever.

Since the beginning of the world, his 5th, the + old + impresses. The colossus turns about 18 points average and a little more than 7 rebounds, surprise revelation of this World Cup and one of the key players of a selection albiceleste that few imagined in the semifinals. Not bad for one who will turn 40 next April and finds himself on the floor facing players sometimes half his age.

- "I think I'm a good player" -

"I understand that everyone is talking about my age, but my brain does not work like that ...", he says.

For the anecdote, against Poland in a pool match, he crossed the youngest of this world, 18-year-old Aleksander 'Olek' Balcerowski, which did not prevent him from planting 21 points.

"I do not go back on the ground thinking, + oh my god, I'm older than all these guys +, or + oh my gods, these guys are 5, 10, 15 years younger than me +", assures he. "For me it's natural, I just think I'm a player, I'm a good player and I'm going to do good things to help my team win." A mantra that works.

In the quarter-final against Serbia, one of the teams announced as the main threat of the World Cup with the United States (eliminated in the quarter by France), Scola continued its momentum with 20 points. A victory that the veteran refuses to call a surprise.

"It bothers me that people repeat that it's a miracle, a surprise, nobody believed in Argentina in the semi-finals but I tell you, there were 22 people (pre-selected) for two months who Believe it was not a miracle, we are a good basketball team, we played a great basketball all week long, we deserved to be here and I do not accept questions about miracles . "

- Orphan since Ginobili -

This is enough to set an ambition for the now second best scorer in history in World Cup (680 points) behind the Brazilian Oscar Schmidt (906).

Orpheline since the departure of Manu Ginobili after the Rio Olympics in 2016, Argentina is starting to dream a little stronger for a few days, she who runs after a world title for 69 years. Scola was part of the team defeated by a point in the 2002 World Cup final by Yugoslavia, led by Vlade Divac and Pedrag Stojakovic at the time. That year, the Argentines had been the first in history to beat a US team 100% NBA. To be so close must necessarily motivate years later.

After leaving the NBA in 2017, Scola has just spent her last two seasons in China. An exile that did not visibly make him lose.

Friday, he will play against the Blues his 40th match in the World Cup and match, whatever happens, the Brazilian Ubiratan Pereira Maciel, record holder of the number of matches played at the World Cup (41 between 1963 and 1978).

But here again, such a statistic hardly counts once when it reaches the last square.

© 2019 AFP