Eliminating the French team right from the group stage, Latvia created the biggest shock in the FIBA World Cup 2023
Coming to the 2023 FIBA World Cup finals with the goal of a gold medal, the French team saw their dream crumble after only 2 matches in the group stage.
Losing to Canada in the opening match, Rudy Gobert and his teammates set a goal to overcome Latvia, the European team without their No. 1 star, Kristaps Porzingis.
Everything went smoothly for the French until the end of the third half when they led by 13 points. But the match turned dizzy in the last round when Latvia created an unbelievable upstream.
It was not until the last minute of the game that Latvia successfully erased the 13-point gap and took the lead. Since then, they kept the advantage and won the final with a tight score of 88-86.
In the final 70 seconds, France did not score any points and missed many opportunities to equalize points. From stars Evan Fournier and Guershon Yabusele (two players who played very well in this match) to pitcher Sylvain Francisco could not put the ball in the basket.
In the end, one of the leading candidates for the throne of the FIBA World Cup 2023 bowed his head to admit defeat. From the runner-up position of the World Cup 2019 to the owner of the Tokyo Olympic silver medal, France has now been eliminated from the group stage.
The person most to blame today on the French side is Nando De Colo. Originally the mainstay of the team, this 1997-born defender made two unsportsmanlike fouls and was expelled from the match.
From the moment De Colo left the field, Latvia created a 10-3 shake in the middle of the fourth half, setting the stage for their spectacular comeback in the last minute.
Without the number 1 star Kristaps Porzingis playing, Latvia still has a resilient team. The duo that shined brightly, Arturs Zagars and Rolands Smit, scored 22 and 20 points respectively in this match. Bigman NBA David Bertans has 15 points.
One point to point out is that this is the first time participating in the FIBA World Cup arena of the Latvian team. However, they soon made history when they eliminated the defending runner-up from the tournament.
Now Latvia, with a record of 2 wins, will face the Canadian team in the last match, competing for the first place in Group H before entering the knockout round.
