The front favourites, behind the USA: France fail spectacularly in the World Cup qualifying round

Top favorites behind the USA
France dramatically fail in the preliminary round of the World Cup

08/27/2023 at 5:51 PM

Big bets ahead of the World Cup, but they’re knocked out after just two games: French basketballers fail miserably in Jakarta. The stellar team around Rudi Goubert loses out big to Latvia. This case is reminiscent of Germany 2019.

French basketball players were sensationally eliminated in the preliminary round of the World Cup in Asia. The team that includes NBA center Rudy Gobert lost 86:88 (53:49) to a Latvian team in Jakarta on Sunday and, after two losses from two games, had to say goodbye to all title dreams. Prior to that, she had scored 65:95 against favored Canada at the start of the World Cup. Canada with Shay Gilgos-Alexander and Latvia, which lacks its best professional Christaps Porzingis, qualified for the second round.

Winger Yvan Fournier was already frustrated after the first defeat. “They kicked our ass,” he said of his 30-point bat against Canada. The match against Latvia was considered a must-win, because France is second in the Olympics and European Championships. And at the last two World Championships in Spain in 2014 and in China in 2019, there was also a bronze medal. Behind the USA, the French became the second biggest contender for the title. Fournier, who is not under contract with the New York Knicks, was one of the few players on his team who convinced, scoring 27 points.

The premature end is reminiscent of what happened in Germany four years ago. The team led by Dennis Schroeder lost the first game to a favorite (France), then suffered an unimaginable defeat against an outsider (Dominican Republic). In contrast to France, Germany has already secured a second-round ticket after two wins this year.