After 15 years of passion with Vincent Collet, 14 competitions and 8 international medals, the love story between the Blues and Frédéric Fauthoux will have begun in the sweetness of the Cypriot autumn, one evening in November 2024. At the Eleftheria Sports Arena in Nicosia, the new coach of the French team has launched an era that he hopes will be crowned with the same success as that of his predecessor.
The one on Thursday evening was expected by everyone. Whatever the absences which frequently redraw the contours of the national selection, its reservoir of high-level players should protect it against a team which occupies 82nd place in the FIBA ranking, stuck between Nicaragua and Taiwan. The Cypriot fan probably did not believe in the miracle either and the poster did not unleash passions, nine months before a EuroBasket which the island will partly organize.
This supposed superiority still had to be proven on the ground. And the Tricolores experienced some difficulties in doing so, the necessarily unprecedented major five, which included three neophytes (Brice Dessert, Adam Mokoka and Nolan Traore), having difficulty finding rhythm in a particularly cozy atmosphere. Leader Filippos Tigkas stood out and forced Frédéric Fauthoux to stop after six complicated minutes (9-13). A time-out which put his men back in the right direction if not completely freeing them. Jean-Marc Pansa and Axel Bouteille came off the bench effectively to initiate a reassuring 11-2.
Not tough enough defensively (six fouls committed in the first half), borrowed in its initiatives, France displayed the timidity of the young leaders and repeatedly stumbled in a well-established area (25-29). Only extra aggression, notably from Adam Mokoka before returning to the locker room, saved him from too much fear.
However, she never managed to create a significant gap and thus remained within shooting distance of the local shooters, well helped by the American left-hander Darral Willis, difficult to hold in one-on-one. The minutes ticked by and the tension became more palpable as Cyprus gained in confidence, like Konstantinos Simitzis, who suffered a heat stroke in the middle of the third quarter with three consecutive winning shots. A success that escaped the Blues who were feverish and engaged in a mano a mano that they did not see coming (49-50).
It was with a certain relief that the small French community who came to support them saw, as money time approached, impose an athletic challenge to which their counterparts could not respond. The interior of Turk Telekom Ankara even cracked a shot from distance then a devastating dunk on the counter-attack to conclude a 15-0 which gave the necessary air to Frédéric Fauthoux's troops.
With 11 points in three minutes Makoundou broke his career record. Enough to ensure the essential: a victory which will not go down in history. But who will certainly have the merit of warning the young Blues. In front of their audience, late Sunday afternoon, they will want to avoid repeating the anxiety-provoking pattern of Nicosia.
