FRA - Bergeaud takes inspiration from Les Bleus
PARIS (FIBA World Championship) - France coach Claude Bergeaud has called on his players to take inspiration from the country's football team ahead of the FIBA World Championship in Japan. Raymond Domenech's footballers face Portugal in a World Cup semi-final
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PARIS (FIBA World Championship) - France coach Claude Bergeaud has called on his players to take inspiration from the country's football team ahead of the FIBA World Championship in Japan.
Raymond Domenech's footballers face Portugal in a World Cup semi-final after recovering from an uninspiring start to stun Spain and Brazil in the knock-out stages.
"I think that the performance of the French football players can boost my players," Bergeaud said.
"But the way we will tackle the competition will be completely different to Les Bleus. We will have to be ready right from the start."
Indeed, it took two-and-a-half games for France to finally hit their stride in Germany, struggling to draws against Switzerland and South Korea and in the first 45 minutes against Togo before turning on the style.
Bergeaud's 17-man squad will gather in Paris this weekend before starting their preparation for Japan next week in Divonne-les-Bains.
France, who won bronze at EuroBasket 2005, are in Group A of the FIBA World Championship along with Argentina, Serbia & Montenegro, Nigeria, Lebanon and Venezuela.
Bergeaud this week invited NBA centers Johan Petro and Ronny Turiaf, along with European-based Yannick Bokolo, Michel Morandais and Stephen Brun into his preliminary group.
"Last year before the Euro 2005 we started the preparation by working on the systems," explained Bergeaud.
"This time we will try to play basketball as soon as possible in order to put in place the collective foundations of the team, as well as to create defensive and offensive mechanisms."
France will play a friendly against Switzerland on July 17 before travelling to Strasbourg to take on Senegal, Lithuania and China from July 21 to 23.
Bergeaud should then reduce his squad to 14 by the end of July and down to 13 before the start of a warm-up tournament in China. He will announce his final 12-man squad a few days before the start of the FIBA World Championship.
PA Sport
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