It is this Thursday that the coach, Jean-Aimé Toupane, will formalize the absence of Marine Johannès for the next Euro (June 15 to 25 in Slovenia and Israel). As revealed by The Teamthe France team will be deprived of one of its best players because she wanted to go back and forth to the United States to sign her contract with the New York Liberty, her franchise.
Interrogates by beIN SportsToupane recalled the context that led him to make this decision. “Marine, we would like her to be here, he began. We started on a simple principle: we’re going to do a competition that we haven’t won for quite a while. (2009, the Blue remaining on five defeats in the final). So the will to win is important. The second reason is that we are in a very short scheme, we only have thirteen training sessions (before the Euro). As far as Marine is concerned, we have been talking about this situation for almost a year. The framework was defined from the beginning. »
“You have to make choices and take responsibility for the choices you make”
“Marine has her will to go to the United States, to play in the WNBA, which is understoodshe continued. We know his game so well, his qualities, it fits him so well, we can’t blame him for wanting that. Since February we have had meetings, and what I have always said is that we have to make choices and ume the choices we make. Whether they are good or bad, we don’t have to judge, no one should judge, no one. As long as we are not in the place of the player, the coach who will make his selection and will ume whether he has results or not, we cannot judge. Now, you have to be honest, and say what you want. Doing everything is not possible. »
Marine Johannes is expected to arrive in New York on Sunday. Since she will not be selected for Les Bleues, she should play her first match with Liberty on Tuesday.