Mission accomplished, and that’s all we’ll remember. Well almost, because if in the whole of this third match of the Blue World Cup everything was not perfect, in the end the girls of Jean-Aimé Toupane will have known how to put the necessary collar to get out of the Malian trap. Next step? Japan tomorrow morning at 8am, and it will be a different story.
The French were told that Mali had taken 60 once morest Australia, themselves defeated by Les Bleues in the opener, but the French were not told that Sika Koné had apparently decided to release the match of his life this morning. The kid (20 years old) from Gran Canaria thus cold-picked the interiors of the EDF and took all her pineco with her, the first quarter being suddenly a Malian festival. On the rebound in particular, with seven offensive rebounds recovered from the truffle of our big players, which then resulted in the score by a dangerous gap in favor of the outsiders in this match supposed to be, we recall, very unbalanced. 21-17 Mali, Blue Girls side Alexia Chartereau destroys string and that’s good, while Ana Tadic takes advantage of this Sunday to scrape a few minutes and turn them into a footwork mixtape. Fortunately the second quarter is that of the awakening of the French, a quarter which will be won 25-11 thanks to a tight defense and a surgical attack which makes everyone bite.
We then say to ourselves that our Bleues are going to roll it out with a smile, Lisa Berkani thinks she is Damian Lillard and Gaby Williams activates the machine, but opposite the voice of the Mali coach makes us think of Juan Joya Borja alias El Risitas, but in face, especially, it does not let go of the steak and in particular this famous Koné that we Koné now, Koné who will finish his match with a record of 18 points and 18 rebounds, so like that Dwight Howard plays with Mali. A close or two around ten points but the girls of JAT will not really shake in the second half, and the staff will also take the opportunity to strum a little more than usual on the rotations. Ana Tadic therefore (8 points at 4/6 in 14 minutes), Migna Touré and her 10 pawns in 14 minutes including an incredible PLANCHA in the third quarter, and even a few balloons offered to Marie-Eve Paget at the relay of Fauthoux and Berkani at the lead.
In the end the victory is there, without really shaking despite a somewhat sleepy start, and the ground is therefore prepared for the double shock of tomorrow ( once morest Japan) and Tuesday ( once morest Serbia). Yes our girls are going to play three games in three days, they are not the only ones, and the calculations are quite simple in view of qualifying for the quarter-finals: two defeats and you will have to get out the calculator, a victory and you are out the cutters. So see you tomorrow for Act IV of this group stage, for a Franco-Japanese revenge of the last Olympic Games.
