This Wednesday, we thought Lebanon would overtake France in the same way as Canada (90-65) and Latvia (88-86), the winners of the Blues in this World Cup. Finally, Vincent Colle’s players, already out after these two disappointments, managed to subdue the world’s 43rd country (85-79) in Jakarta (Indonesia), which was still leading at the start of the last quarter (60-79), with pain. 64).
The Lebanese, previously corrected by Latvia (109-70) and then Canada (128-73), even had a 10-point lead (25-35) in the second quarter. In the midst of this storm, when his team was eight points behind the opponent, the French coach delivered a rant during a time-out.
“At 20 (Wael Arakji, leader of Lebanon) he is not going to give us guys 40 points,” Kolle swore. I want him to be a good little player. Only he plays, he reviewed everyone in turn. Finally, Arakdzhi will score 29 points, including 21 in the first period.
But the technician spoke especially harsh words to the leader Eli Okobo when he spoke with Sylvain Francisco, who got into big trouble. “Sylvain, relax, okay?” he asked her. Don’t listen to Eli, he doesn’t want to play, but please don’t act like him! »
“Still a great team,” according to Nicholas Batum
Finally, after spending most of the match on the bench, Okobo, disappointing since the start of the World Cup, scored a total of 12 points. Enough to redeem yourself in Colle’s eyes? To see in the future.
Meanwhile, the Blues will have to endure a huge disappointment a year before the Paris Olympics. Captain Nicholas Batum chooses an attacking decision: “We are still a great team,” he told beIN Sport. Unfortunately for some, we are not dead, we will rise. “If possible, with professional centers: Rudy Gobert (ankle), Mustafa Fall (toothache) and Matthias Lessort (ankle) were absent this Wednesday.