Evan Fournier (back of the Blues, after the 86-88 defeat against Latvia): “There is a lot of disappointment, a lot of disappointment. We took a slap in the face at this tournament, we missed a lot of things. Want? No, in our way of playing. We lost balls, stopped playing as we wanted and they were euphoric. (On De Colo’s exclusion) I didn’t see what happened. We have to play better than that, we can’t put (the defeat) on the back of an unsportsmanlike (fault) (the second for De Colo, synonymous with exclusion, editor’s note). There must be a big questioning for next year (the Olympics). But each year is different, has its own story.
Rudy Gobert (pivot of the Blues): “We are a little knocked out, it’s a difficult defeat for us. We started the match well, with the right mentality but once again, we lack rigor: the rebounds (left), the faults… Little things that in the end make the difference and they put the shots that he needed when needed. They also had space whistles from a referee who sucks. I don’t even know why the referees are there, honestly. The unsportsmanlike (the second whistled against Nando De Colo, synonymous with exclusion) is already incredible, my fault at the end…
Anyway, that’s not why we lose. Whatever happens, Latvia deserve their place, they played better than us but despite that, I liked the spirit we had for most of the game. We all need to look in the mirror. There are things I will talk about later. Of course there is anger, we are not where we should be but I hope we will learn. It was not our expectation. Once again, we have to learn, we have no choice, and come back stronger next year.
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