On to serious things. The French basketball team played (and lost) its seventh and last preparation match for the World Cup (August 25-September 10) on Sunday, in Tokyo, against Australia (74-78), after six victories of rank. Before heading to Jakarta (Indonesia), where “his” Blues will play their group stage, Vincent Collet took stock this Monday during a video press conference, discussing the results of the preparation, the objectives for the World Cup, the OJ or even the first opponent of the Olympic and European vice-champions, Canada, Friday (3:30 p.m. on beIN SPORTS).

What the staff would have liked to have had more time to work on: “All areas. There are a number of things that take a bit of time. For example, we saw yesterday (Sunday against Australia), with the attack of the “switches”. We had about fifteen training sessions… It’s very few but it’s the same for everyone.

Loss to Australia: “Winning or losing possession in a friendly is not the point. What I remember is that we did some positive and interesting things. But we were still weak on the defensive rebound. In the second period, also weak in ball control, with 14 lost balls. Beyond that, I also remember that we played a high level match. Five days before a difficult start against Canada, we could not have dreamed of a better opposition. That was what was important above all, to raise our level, we were able to do it on different occasions, especially at the start, and other very satisfying passages, but we also lost our basketball at certain times, with a very weak end of the third quarter and the end where we did not know how to keep the win of the match.

Goals at the World Cup: “I can’t speak for the whole team. The players have already spoken. We are part of a number of teams that can claim to go very far in the competition. I want to go as far as possible. Yes, I want to win this World Cup, if you ask me what my dreams are, my ambitions, but to proclaim it loud and clear, I’m not sure it will help us achieve it.

Preparation review: “It’s a good preparation. Beyond the matches, there are the training sessions, the concentration of the group, the commitment. Clearly, from this point of view, it is satisfactory. But it’s still preparation. Serious things start on Friday. For the adventure to be successful, we have to transform the test and go up a notch by entering the competition. But from the point of view of what we could, the staff, hope for, we are generally satisfied. Despite the short time we had, we swept away what we had planned in terms of game objectives. It was the players, through their attitude and behavior, that made it possible to achieve this. Now, we will have to confirm and win the matches from Friday.

A group raised at the World Cup (Canada, Latvia, Lebanon): “No, it’s not an advantage but we don’t choose. If we come out of our first group, the crossing with Spain and Brazil will force us to make several big matches to simply go to the quarter-finals. And that doesn’t guarantee us an easy quarter-final! On the contrary: it will be Slovenia, Australia or Germany, at the very least. To go very far, it will be necessary to chain the performances.

Canada: “Apart from Team USA, we have never played a team with so many individuals of this level. No collective? People who say that haven’t really checked. They hope so. U.S. too. But that’s not what you see when you watch the matches… Above all, you have to be prepared for very tough opposition. Their victory in Spain is there to demonstrate it. This is a team that will continue to progress and has already progressed. The players are relatively young. They have ambitions, if not for this year, at least for the Olympic tournament next year. We will try to ensure that their collective is not up to their individualities. Canada is not our tournament. Even if you start badly, you can still qualify by winning the following matches. You have to be prepared for a very tough competition. Conversely, if we beat Canada, Latvia will not be a cakewalk two days later.

The theme of the campaign: “At the 2019 World Cup, which represented a starting point for this group, the idea was that we were not expected, we had to surprise, rob. At the Olympics two years later, we had more guarantees in terms of our abilities, our game. We had to be ambitious. It’s a bit the same thing this time, even if we won’t use the same words. We know more about what we are capable of, but also where we are going and what opposition we will face. Our wildest dreams, we can only realize them conditionally, that is to say that we must respect a certain number of conditions, that we manage to create the optimal conditions to achieve them. There are lots of settings. If we concede between 15 and 20 offensive rebounds per game, we will not go on the podium. Ditto for bullet losses. There are a few parameters that still need to be smoothed out, or even erased for some of them. In this case, we know that we have things on which we can rely and which can allow us to think big.

The 2024 Olympics: “The Olympics are major, and that increases this feeling even more knowing that it will be in France. But we must still insist on the fact that we are coming to the World Cup. It’s the toughest competition and it’s self-sufficient. We have players who are determined to get the best possible result. There will be plenty of time to think about the Games. The best way to prepare for the next campaign is to succeed in this one. We have a backbone which is the basis of this team. This is our chance. We are really in the World Cup. I don’t hear the players talking about the Games. On the other hand, I hear them talk a lot about this World Cup.

France has become a stronghold over the years and medalist in the last three major competitions: “What keeps us going is the hope of winning a medal. There will always be time to feel sorry if we don’t succeed. We are getting ready. We are focused on us. It was the last day that we worked exclusively on us. Starting tomorrow, there will be a lot of action on Canada. It’s the ransom in previous years so we’re not going to complain about it, but it shouldn’t become a norm for everyone because it’s not that simple. I hope we will come back with something again but we will have to deserve it. We will have to fight every game and be good to achieve it. I think we have the means, but so do other teams. You have to be better than them. That’s the beauty of sport.”

Statements taken at a press conference