This is a rare and candid comment. Asked Sunday on beIN Sports after the match for third place in the Euro won by France on Sunday against Hungary (82-68), Sandrine Gruda, the oldest (36) of the France team, who claims the freedom to speak “cash”, scratched the coach, Jean-Aimé Toupane. A second time, after having estimated it, the day before, guilty of having proposed a bad defensive choice against Belgium (63-67), and of having been slow to change it.
The Martiniquaise first explained that she was happy that Les Bleues left Slovenia with bronze, even if “playing this (last) match was torture” for her. “Happy for the team, because we have worked hard so far, for the Federation, for all the supporters who made the trip”, she listed, omitting to mention the staff. If the semi-final allowed “to gain experience, “behind, (we must) also win in tactics I want to tell you”, she added.
The multi-medalist interior then presented an embarrassed smile which illustrated her awareness of the deflagration capacity of her statement since at the same microphone, the president of the Federation, Jean-Pierre Siutat, had reiterated his confidence in the coach, in office since October 2021 , an hour earlier, declaring: “Jean-Aimé has his way of functioning, of working, he is someone very human, very rigorous, very demanding. It works very well with the staff. »
Sandrine Gruda obviously wanted to send a message, admitting all the same that she hesitated to answer “off” – these words that journalists collect to feed the subjects but of which they do not have the right to quote the author publicly – which is complicated live on television… When asked about the scope of Toupane’s instructions to the players, she replied: “I don’t want to point the finger at anyone at all. When we lose it’s together. It’s true that all of us, at our levels, can really do better, including the coach. “.
