Guillaume Issner, Media365, published on Sunday November 24, 2024 at 7:10 p.m.
Winner of Cyprus (85-70) this Sunday in Poitiers, the France team has almost assured its qualification for Euro 2025.
The French team has done most of the work and will certainly go to play Euro 2025 (August 27 – September 14) which will be held in Latvia, Cyprus, Poland and Finland. It is precisely against one of these four selections that the Blues validated a fourth success in as many matches in the fourth round of qualifying. Three days after dominating Cyprus in Nicosia (59-75) for the first time on the bench of coach Frédéric Fauthoux who succeeded Vincent Collet after the Olympic Games, the French players pocketed a new victory this Sunday against the Cypriots, this time this one at the Futuroscope Arena in Poitiers. They especially made the difference in a first quarter which they finished with a bang. Then ahead by a score of five lengths (19-14), the Blues signed a nine-point run to start the second quarter with a score of 29-14. It was therefore on a cushion of fourteen points that Frédéric Fauthoux's players returned to their locker room at half-time.
Qualification almost assured for the Blues
Behind, Filippos Tigkas (18 points) and his teammates put their foot back on the accelerator in the third quarter but never managed to turn the game around. At the end of the last ten minutes in which few points were scored, the Blues won 85-70 thanks in particular to Axel Bouteille, author of 15 points as during the match in Cyprus in the middle of the week. Aline Noua (14 points) was also valuable when Yoan Makoundou (11 points) was less influential than in Cyprus but was able to put on a show at the end of the match with an authoritarian dunk in front of an opponent and another while he was alone in the racket. With eight points, the France team has almost assured its qualification for the Euro while awaiting the result of the match between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina this Sunday evening. The Blues will face these two opponents on February 21 and 24 respectively, with qualification already assured.
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