Nicolas Batum after the victory against the United States: "It's been five years that we expect that" – Basket – Blues

Nicolas Batum (winger and captain of the France team, after the victory against the United States in the quarterfinals) : "We feel that five years ago we did that, and then we made a monumental mistake. We said we should not show joy, we show nothing. Ok we beat the Americans but it's just a quarterfinal. In 2014 we beat Spain and against Serbia we missed an opportunity. We've been waiting five years with Evan (Fournier). There we make a big quarter against a huge team.

It's a feat, but we did not do anything. We have no medals around our necks. Must stay focused. Frank (Ntilikina) was huge on Kemba (Walker). He was the target. He did a Thomas Heurtel from five years ago. (…) The historical aspect is if we do something to the end. We will be focusing on Argentina. Do not get excited, stay humble. (…) We do a good job for 35 minutes. On 5 minutes of beats, they iron in front. In the last quarter we tightened the screw. "

Andrew Albicy (leader of the France team): "It's amazing what we did. Few believed despite the messages of support. We stayed together, we stayed together and we did it. It's a big moment. But as our leaders said, we did a lot of work, against Argentina nothing is won, we must not be satisfied. We won nothing but it's good for morale. It is necessary to put this same rage against Argentina to win a medal. "

Amath Mbaye (winger of the France team): "I'm so happy, even if we're not where we want to go yet. The goal was not to beat the USA, but it was a step that we had to go through, we knew it. It's good to have done it at this stage of the competition. The mind, we have it, the staff as the players. On the field, we have experienced players who know this kind of situation. They controlled the situation perfectly. Since the beginning of the competition, since we arrived in China, we put in the head that we will defend hard, we will share the ball and propose a beautiful basketball. Tonight we were all huge. It's hard to realize the magnitude of this match, it will probably happen later, but we know that there are still two more games. It will only be historic if we win this World Cup. "

Nando De Colo (back of the France team): "We relied a lot on our team spirit. I constantly repeat to the players that we will have good times each evening and more difficult ones, we just have to overcome them. Tonight, what happened in the 3rd quarter, it can happen to us because nobody is perfect, but behind we remained concentrated. This is the most important and our strength this year. We must show that we will fight until the end. Obviously, it helps when you get big shots, as Frank and Evan did. We have individualities to make a difference, but without a team, the match is lost. We were well prepared.

We did not care what could happen off the field, we were focused on our goal and we knew we were going at one time or another on the USA. This (Wednesday) tonight is a big win, we do not realize it yet, but it's not the final and it does not bring us any medals. We must focus on what lies ahead. "