France’s miracle last-second comeback at the Paris Games got even better a few hours later, when the host nation clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and a trip to Paris for the knockout round next week.
Also now officially in the Olympic quarterfinals: Germany and Canada. And on Wednesday, the winner of the U.S.-South Sudan game also will have a spot in the quarterfinals all wrapped up.
The field for the medal round began taking shape Tuesday, especially after reigning World Cup champion Germany pulled away from a halftime tie and beat Brazil 86-73 in the final game of the evening. That victory came just after France got a four-point play from Matthew Strazel to tie the game late in regulation and beat Japan 94-90 in overtime behind 18 points from Victor Wembanyama.
Those results left France and Germany atop Group B at 2-0 and ensured of the top two spots in the group over Brazil and Japan, both of whom are 0-2. Canada’s win over Australia earlier Tuesday also pushed it to 2-0 and now assured of no worse than a wild-card spot in the quarterfinals.
“I just heard that,” Germany forward Franz Wagner said about clinching the spot in the quarterfinals. “Honestly, I didn’t know. It’s good.”
There are three different groups of four teams in the Olympic tournament; the top two finishers in each group make the quarterfinals, and the final two spots in the next round go to the best third-place teams in group play.
