Dominated by Australia, France ends its group stage on a bad note

The French women logically bowed out on Sunday, ending their group stage with a setback. They will find out in the evening who their quarter-final opponent will be, which should be Germany.

Les Bleues ended their stay in the North badly. The French team lost to Australia (79-72), Sunday August 4, for their third and final match of the group stage. A setback that still ensures they finish top of their group, but does not allow them to avoid the United States in their table before the final. By two small points, Australia also qualified on goal average.

“We really have to approach this match like a minor final.” The leader Marine Fauthoux had set the stakes for this match: first place in the group for France, qualification for Australia.

And the stakes took precedence over the spectacle at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium. A tight, rough, defensively tough match that Jean-Aimé Toupane’s players never managed to dominate like the two previous ones against Canada and Nigeria.

With their shooting skills down at half-time (36% shooting at 2/15 from three-point range), the Tricolores first found some breathing room with their captain. Sarah Michel Boury was in charge of stimulating the French women’s somewhat awkward game in the second quarter to bring the two teams to a tie at half-time (34-34).

But against a defense that didn’t let up like the Nigerians, the Blues struggled to create play and find the spark, especially from long distance (30% from three-point range in the match). Their defense, very imposing until then, fell apart a little (25 conceded in the third quarter).

This defeat, if it is not dramatic, will have the merit of shaking up the Blues a little.It’s good that we had this match, we made a lot of mistakes that we had already made in previous matches, but they were less intelligent teams. There, we played against such an intelligent team. We learned a lot tonight.”noted French guard Gabby Williams (15 points).

It also allows us to identify their main shortcomings: protection of the circle and rebounding, in addition to a bad start this evening. “OWe made a bad start compared to what we usually show and against a team like Australia, we paid dearly for it.”noted coach Jean-Aimé Toupane. These flaws are of no great consequence for the moment, but they will have to be ironed out for the quarter-final on Wednesday, against Germany.