BERLIN (Germany) - The opening Semi-Final at FIBA EuroBasket 2022 pits together the Cinderella story of the tournament against perennial medal contenders as Poland go up against France.

Poland have gone from an early exit in the First Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers to making the last four of EuroBasket for the first time in over 50 years, while France have come through some major scares already in the Knockout Phase.

In successive games, 2013 winners France survived with late baskets in regulation before taking victory in overtime with their latest triumph seeing them overcome Italy 93-85. Poland, meanwhile, pulled off a huge result in defeating the reigning champions Slovenia in a historic 90-87 victory.

Poland v France - Friday, 17:15 CET

Key Matchup: Mateusz Ponitka has catapulted himself into the MVP conversation with a number of strong displays for Poland in this tournament - not least a triple-double in their Quarter-Final upset of Slovenia. The 29-year-old is averaging 15.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game and will have a big say on how Poland fare. Meanwhile, Terry Tarpey has been the unsung hero of EuroBasket for France with the defensive specialist's value extending way beyond the box score. He was tasked with dealing with Simone Fontecchio in the last eight and will have another important role to play in this one.

X-Factor: Aleksander Balcerowski fouled out in just 16 minutes of action after contributing 11 points and 4 rebounds as Poland's strong inside presence against Slovenia, but will need to avoid early foul trouble against France to combat the growing threat of Rudy Gobert, who has been a colossus on the glass with back-to-back big double-doubles in Berlin. 

Stats Don't Lie: Another 18 turnovers in the Quarter-Finals saw France remain the worst team in the tournament in the category at 15.9 per game which has translated into 18.4 points per game for their opponents. But Poland have only averaged 13.6 points per game off turnovers and they will need to be ready to capitalize any extra possessions they can get.

They Said:
"When you look at France, you think, they luckily beat Turkey, now they luckily beat Italy and some say barely made it to the Semi-Finals. But this is the top four teams in Europe. At some point the luck is all the time on their side. France is a really good team and I think nobody has taken them serious until now because they were lucky here or there whatever. But they are in the Semi-Finals and they are an unbelievable team. You can see that they are building something from game to game. So it will really be a difficult game." - Mateusz Ponitka, Poland

"We know we have to play better. But now we are alive. We will play Friday a Semi-Final against a tough team. Whatever it will be, it will be a difficult game. But it’s a chance for us to do better. We, the players and the coaching staff, know that to get the gold medal we have to be better. We cannot get it with the same level we have had the last couple of games. But we have a chance. We deserve that chance. We created it by winning tonight, and we have two days to prepare the next game and we will try to have a better game. We gave ourselves a chance to play our best game. That's not the case at the moment. We were quite good against Lithuania, but now we must step up. And it's time to do it." - France coach Vincent Collet

FIBA