France Likely to Face China, Boasting a 2.23m Giant and Pierre Vincent

While the Italian team showed enthusiasm against the Americans, they appeared stunned by the dominant performance of the Chinese, who had only narrowly defeated the Czech Republic in overtime. Italy struggled, scoring only 7 points in the first quarter and later facing a deficit of up to 25 points. This was an unexpected turn of events. The imposing presence of two giants, Ziyu Zhang (2.23m, 8 points, 8 rebounds) and especially Xu Han (2.06m, 19 points, 10 rebounds), proved decisive for China, complemented by their guards shooting an impressive 42% from three-point range.

"We did not approach the game in the right way. We lacked fighting spirit. We had expended a lot of physical and mental energy against the United States, but that should not serve as an excuse," commented Matilde Vila.

China Aims for Quarter-Finals by Defeating Puerto Rico

As Italy prepares to face Australia in a playoff match on Wednesday, China is expected to assert its dominance against Puerto Rico, thereby securing a spot in the quarter-finals. There, they would meet France, who have already qualified following their victory over Korea.

Just three days before the start of the World Cup, the French national team had convincingly defeated China 83-54 in their sole preparatory game. However, this result should be viewed with caution. Ziyu Zhang did not participate in that match. Her height and reach present unique challenges that opposing centers are not accustomed to facing. Throughout the group stage, she demonstrated efficiency (8 points, 5 rebounds) in limited playing time (under 13 minutes), suggesting a potential lack of endurance. Greater caution, however, is warranted for Xu Han of the New York Liberty, who is averaging a double-double (17.3 points, 11.3 rebounds) – a significant increase from her WNBA role as a bench player (6.4 points, 2.6 rebounds).

Pierre Vincent, Former French Coach, Now on China's Bench

A familiar face has appeared on the Chinese bench: coach Pierre Vincent, who previously led the French national team from 2008 to 2013, achieving a European Championship title and an Olympic silver medal at the London Games. He explained his move to China a few months ago:

"China has foreign experts, not in coaching positions, which they systematically leave to Chinese coaches, but in all their teams and clubs, they have foreign coaches. I am here to provide tactical insights. The coaches there are former players. The Chinese have a kind of Olympic Games between all the provinces. Players and athletes who are rewarded in these competitions have a lifelong social status; they become coaches for provincial, club, or national teams. By entering this system, you are a player, but not a coach. You coach because socially, you are assigned a position, but without having been trained to coach. This limits them, which is why they heavily rely on experts to educate them on what coaching entails today. And I am here to assist the head coach when he needs it and asks me to."

Undoubtedly, Pierre Vincent will provide the Chinese head coach with invaluable information about players he knows very well.