THE BALL – Portugal loses to France in Matosinhos (Basketball)
Already defeated last Thursday, in Dijon, by 38 points (94-56), Portugal lost again against France, this time in Matosinhos, by 56-17, 19-17, 8-15, 13-20) , in the 4th game of the first qualifying round for the 2023 World Cup. The outcome keeps the Seleção in the last position of Group E, still without any triumph.
Poule – pass the top three – led precisely by the Gauls (4 v-0 d), Olympic runners-up in Tokyo, but who are formed without their players who play in the NBA and Euroleague, followed by Montenegro (2 v-2 d ) ) and Hungary (2 v-2 d).
As happened three days ago, the formation of the corners, which remains deprived of selecting Mário Gomes due to his having Covid-19 and was guided by the national Nuno Manarte, returned to complete after the break (35-34).
Opposing pressure on the ball and recourse lines increased and little by little the forwards were failing, often ending with shots with no chance of success or recourse with any variety of avoidable ball schemes. 14 of the 26 turnovers happened in the 2nd half, 8 of them by the two teams, but that ended up being dominated by the defect (8-15).
The moment to play after a once-in-a-lifetime experience of having to be part of Portugal, often accompanied by a party that has not committed to being part of Portugal. the fights of the tables or the launches of the trip in the quarter of 3.14 easier, happened between the last of 3.º of height 3.15 of 4.º period, in which the Selection suffered a devastating 0-15 (43-57) .
Re-entered the field, Rafael Lisboa (14) organized the house a little and converted 8 consecutive points (51-57), but he was too lonely and ended up being his last breath as the French closed the match with a new 5-12.
In addition to Lisbon, only Sasa Borovnjak (11 pts, 7 res) reached ten points, leaving Diogo Brito (3 res) with 9 and Miguel Queiroz (2 res) with 7. Amath M’Baye (16 pts, 2 ass), Sylvaiin Francisco (15 pts, 3 res) and Mathias Lessort (10 pts, 6 res) were the best scorers in France, who also finished with 27 turnovers but took the best in the tables (35-28).