Basketball in Luxembourg – A cup final between warriors
La Coque will finally ignite again for a Cup final. Winners in the last seconds of their semi-final on Tuesday and Wednesday, Esch and Larochette will compete on Saturday (8:15 p.m.) for a trophy which would be the first for the Echois and the second for Arantia, 52 years after the first. “I think the whole village will come and even more, I enthuse the coach of Larochette, Christophe Ney. With them, we will find the solution to win the match.
Esch successfully won the two direct confrontations in the league (59-108 and 89-73), but his coach refused the status of favorite. “A Cup final is a special match, underlines Franck Mériguet. In this context, the teams start tied, everything is reset. We saw it in the semi-finals against Hesperange”.
Led throughout the match by the penultimate of the regular phase of LBBL, the vice-champions of Luxembourg in title came out in the last minutes. They were able to leave feathers in this disputed end to the match and will count one day less of recovery. “In a match of this importance, the physical disappears, assures Mériguet. The players are so eager to be there that fatigue will quickly be forgotten. It will however be necessary to respond present in the physical engagement, in a match between two teams which have made a fierce defense their trademark.
This Saturday at the end of the afternoon (5.30 p.m.), Dudelange will be the big favorite for the final of the Ladies’ Cup against Résidence Walferdange. The reigning Luxembourg champions have won 22 of their 23 LBBL matches this season and put on a show in the semi-finals on Tuesday against Amicale (106-69). Walferdange, 3rd in the championship, had one less recovery day.