Row of cars and floors, retired Tony Parker was strongly marked by the elimination of the France team in the first round of the 2023 World Cup. If Vincent Collet’s Blues ended up winning their last three games, history of not to come out completely ridiculous of a competition that they aspired to win, the first two defeats synonymous with elimination in the group stage, against Canada and Latvia, were not at all to the taste of the former tricolor leader .
“There, we really experienced a fiasco, he dropped on RMC. I talked about it for a long time with Nicolas Batum, we talked for an hour on the phone, and it’s true that it’s very, very disappointing. It’s not normal for such a team to lose in the first round. We have never seen Spain and the United States come out in the first round. And it’s a shame, because our generation has worked so hard to bring France back to a certain level, so that we are respected, by Fiba, the referees, other countries. It’s so hard to have respect. Latvia had a great game, they shot crazy, but it’s not normal, it’s still a bit of shame. »
Strong choices to make for the Olympics
The former glory of Spurs then projected itself onto the next 2024 Olympics in Paris, inviting the Blues to “above all not panic”. For him, questioning the coach a year from the big Parisian meeting would be “stupid”. But he still expects the tricolor staff to make the right decisions so as not to miss each other at home in less than a year.
“They’re going to have big choices to make,” he warned. If you bring big players like Joël Embiid, Victor [Wembanyama], it has to be complementary with the rest because it could mean the departure of certain executives, which can make headlines. We need to improve the team, we need changes, but it’s not going to be easy. »