Vincent Collet (French coach): “Unlike two years ago, we won here. Even if the first half was difficult, we saw from the start that we had better intentions. We suffered less from the effects of jet lag, there was greater concentration, the players knew under what conditions we had to approach this meeting, despite the fatigue generated by a twenty-hour trip. And there was application in the individual warm-ups. That is the positive.
Afterwards, this Japanese team lacks size, size, it has no interior game. She had taken 25 3-point shots, 8 2-point shots at the break, which is pretty incredible. But the interest for us was to work on certain aspects of the game. We had identified the withdrawal and the drive and kick, we suffered until the break, these were the black points. Then we improved a lot in the second half. We stopped giving ourselves up thoughtlessly. This work will serve us against Latvia in the first round of the World Cup, which also plays a lot like this.
“Once again, there were too many offensive rebounds conceded. […] We absolutely have to make progress on this.”
We also found a certain offensive impatience, and we were sanctioned. They were aggressive in defense and we wanted to respond with direct aggression. We reconnected after the break with what we have done best since the beginning of the preparation, patience, playing behind, attacking to come out…
And then, once again, there were too many offensive rebounds conceded. A certain number are due to their way of playing, but others to the individual responsibility of certain outside players who are not vigilant enough. It is imperative that we make progress on this. »