Basketball World Cup: already qualified, the Blues and Victor Wembanyama reunited to work

Europe 1 with AFP 7:37 p.m., February 22, 2023

Already qualified for the 2023 World Cup which will take place next summer, the French basketball team is preparing to play its last two matches to complete its qualification phase.

On this occasion, the coach of the Blues Vincent Collet has decided to summon 12 players who will participate, Thursday, at 6:45 p.m., in Pardubice, in the match against the Czech Republic.

The 12 Blues for #CZEFRA: Andrew Albicy, Juhann Begarin, Hugo Benitez, Sylvain Francisco, Damien Inglis, Ismaël Kamagate, Paul Lacombe, Nicolas Lang, Yoan Makoundou, Pierre Pelos, Terry Tarpey, Victor Wembanyama.#TeamFranceBasket |

#PassionatelyBlue |

#FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/hNXMfUdfNa

– French Basketball Teams (@FRABasketball) February 21, 2023

By winning against Bosnia in November, the France team validated its ticket for the World Cup to be held from August 25 to September 10 in Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan.

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Little stake

Two matches with limited stakes remain to be played for the teammates of the young French star Victor Wembanyama (19 years old), headliner of a team which will go to the Czech Republic on Thursday (6:45 p.m.) and will host Lithuania on Sunday ( 6 p.m.) in Trélazé (Maine-et-Loire).

"We know the importance of the Fiba ranking to have a better group for the World Cup, it's a match as important as that of the qualification", assured Tuesday Andrew Albicy, captain of this young selection, deprived of the players evolving in the NBA and Euroleague for this window.

If he evokes the "unfortunate consequences" of each defeat on this international ranking on which the draw of the groups of the World Cup depends, the coach Vincent Collet insists on "the culture that we want to instill in this team of France, the culture of win it".

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A leader to find

"We cannot constantly have this discourse with the players and consider that these are matches without stakes", he specifies.

For the players, this gathering represents a great opportunity to prove themselves in the absence of the executives, in particular in the position of leader, where no holder really emerges since Thomas Heurtel joined the Russian club from Zenit Saint-Petersburg in September. and can no longer be selected.

Albicy (32) has for him his experience in the group in which he participated in the last competitions.

At his side, Sylvain Francisco (25) has a card to play in a position where the staff "need the most to rethink, to reflect in order to find the right balance".

"In the club, I have a big responsibility, I play 30 minutes per game (…) I can bring this big responsibility to the France team", assures the leader of 1.79 m evolving in Greece, in the club of Peristeri, third in the championship.

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Hayes in command?

The name of Detroit leader Killian Hayes has also been circulating for several months to be in charge of the game of the Blues, with a well-stocked workforce with regard to other positions.

"Hayes is also part of the reflections, but there are others, the fact that we do not have an indisputable player makes the reflection even more open", indicates Vincent Collet, who knows that he could be brought to draw from its pool of young players as the planetary rendezvous approaches.

"There are no false promises in relation to the World Cup, on the other hand we remind the players that during the previous World Cup, five or six of the players who played the windows ended up in China", underlines the coach of the Blues and Boulogne-Levallois, where he directs Wembanyama, already essential from the top of his 2.21 m.