ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - Coming into the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026, France had the game against Italy circled fro two reasons. One of revenge and the other was competition system strategy. The French got the job done while also giving Tony Parker his first win as a head coach.
France withstood a spirited Italy effort for a 88-68 victory to pull 1-1 in Group A after an opening day loss to USA.
"It's a good win. We have a lot of work to do. We didn't start the game very well, but we are finally in the competition now," Coach Parker said. "We had a tough one last night, and I feel that we had a hard time starting the game with our confidence. The second half was a lot better. We need to play like that all the time." Nathan Soliman led the way with 23 points and Amadou Fall added 14 points for the French.
Soliman and co. were out to avenge their loss to Italy last summer in the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2025. Italy's Mario Machetti drained a three-pointer at the buzzer for a 76-73 victory.
That not only kept the French from becoming the first back-to-back European cadet champions since Croatia in 2010 and 2011, but it also forced them to finish fifth to reach this summer's big show in Türkiye.
France eventually did so and the revenge for that came at the Basketball Development Center National Teams Venue.
"That was the most important game in the first phase. So we are really happy to get our revenge," said Soliman, who had 21 points and 9 rebounds in the loss last summer.
"When we saw that they were in the same group we just wanted to blow them out and that is what we just did."
When asked how much revenge was on his mind, Soliman said: "Everywhere and on all our minds. When we saw that they were in the same group we just wanted to blow them out and that is what we just did."
France's other key for focusing on the Italy game was the goal of finishing second in Group A. France knew they would need a near perfect game to beat USA in the opener but Parker and co. also knew a second place finish in the group would mean they would avoid USA until the Final. A third placed finish would mean a possible date with the Americans in the Semi-Finals.
After the loss to USA, France trailed by 11 points in the first quarter as Italy's Simone Ventura started on fire. Parker's team got back into the game and the game was even 36-36 at the break.
France put together their first run of the game with an 11-2 spurt to surge ahead 54-43. And the score was 59-52 after 30 minutes. France finally gained control as they opened an 18-point lead 76-58 with 5 minutes to play.
Now, all that has to happen for the French is they beat Japan and USA knock off Italy and their Group Phase went exactly as planned.
FIBA