Arrived ten days ago in Ljubljana with the ambition of transforming the European silver of the last five editions into gold, the French basketball players lost a mere 67-63 against Belgium in the semi-finals of the Euro 2023, Saturday June 24 in the evening.
Just over twelve months from the 2024 Olympic Games played at home in Lille (1st round) and Paris-Bercy (from the quarterfinals), the French women are falling back in the European hierarchy and will have to analyze this failure, while the Federation had makes this Euro the main objective on the road to the Olympics.
Late Sunday afternoon (5 p.m.), the French will try to cheer themselves up by trying to win the bronze medal against Hungary, which would be the eighth consecutive podium on the European stage, an unprecedented series since the hegemonic USSR from 1950 to 1991 (22 ranked finals, including 21 coronations) and Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 1966, climbed nine times in a row on the European podium. The Belgians will face Spain this Sunday for the title.
[\ud83d\udcfa LIVE] \ud83c\udfc0 Women’s EuroBasket 2023 – 1/2 Final
\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 Les Bleues failed at the gates of the final and lost against Belgium… They will face Hungary tomorrow at 5 p.m. for a bronze medal.@EuroBasketWomen pic.twitter.com/ILR9zngBFQ— NBAextra (@NBAextra) June 24, 2023
-17 in the first half
Saturday in the semi-finals, the French first suffered the Belgian steamroller in the first two quarters, dominated in the offensive rebound (eleven out of the first twenty minutes). They took time to adjust the sights on three-point shots, when the Belgians under the leadership of Julie Vanloo chained the award-winning baskets and even led by 17 points in the first act.
They have especially suffered the law in the racket of Emma Meesseman, winner of the last three Euroleagues and one of the best if not the best European player currently. The Belgian interior scored 24 points, including 18 in the first twenty minutes.
Gradually returned to the game, two points in the last minute, the French missed two possessions to return to equality in the last 30 seconds and ended up giving up four points.