PORTRAIT – Expected in a subordinate role at the start, the Bologna player has shone brightly since the reorganization carried out by the staff before the quarter-finals.
Special envoy to Bercy
“Olympic final? It’s unique!” Isaïa Cordinier is not hiding his pleasure. He is quite right. “Honestly, not many people believed in us after the preparation and the group stage, but we remained confident, we knew who we were, we found ourselves in the quarter-finals, we pressed on the same thing in the semi-finals and damn, we did it!”savors the native of Créteil, who does not want to stop there, especially not. “We’re not finished, there’s one more match, a final, at home, in front of our families and the French fans. We’re going to give it our all until the end.”he hammers home. And it doesn’t matter if the Tricolores, who beat Canada (82-73) and Germany (73-69), are going to face the American Avengers in the final, this Saturday (9 p.m.), in a Bercy that we imagine will be boiling. “We don’t care. If we remain the thugs that we are, only we can stop.”he asserts. As direct on the court as off it.
One thing is certain: it is largely thanks to him that the Blues were able to transform themselves as they did after the group stage. Vincent Collet changed his rotations and installed Cordinier in the five rather than Evan Fournier, at the same time as Gerschon Yabusele for Rudy Gobert. Objective? Allow the Tricolores to start as strong as possible in terms of intensity, aggressiveness, and set the tone. With the Bologna player, the coach has chosen the right man… He is not the most resonant name in the squad, not the most gifted or the most bankable player. He had no special status at the start of the campaign, other than that of a big defender.
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The last two games are arguably the two biggest of his career so far.
Victor Wembanyama
He showed much more than that. He was the one who sounded the charge against Germany (71-85 defeat) last Friday, while the Blues were struggling. Against Canada, he scored 20 points, a personal best in the national team, with a nice 4/4 from three-point range. Against Germany, we imagined him to be at the same level in defensive aspects, not necessarily in scoring. And yet… 16 points to his credit, including extremely important points. “He’s gaining confidence. I admit, I’ve never seen him play like that.”recognizes Fournier. “The last two games are probably the two biggest of his career so far”smiles Victor Wembanyama, describing a “working model” for having seen him work at Nanterre. “The hard work he put himself through every day… I’m very happy to see that it’s paying off.”he adds. And how, it pays off… Andrew Albicy, for his part, is not surprised: “What if we believed he could do that? Yes, we just have to let him play (laughs)”he smiles, relying on Cordinier’s performances in the Euroleague.
The Euroleague is also where we find three of the players highlighted by Collet in the last two matches, Cordinier, but also Gerschon Yabusele, back in the five, and Mathias Lessort, first rotation at position 5. “It has not escaped your notice that we are playing in Fiba. It is good to insist on it because it is sometimes hard for our NBA players to perceive”says Vincent Collet, admitting that he also has to remind his new assistant, Kenny Atkinson. Specificities that Cordinier, trained in Antibes and passed through Nanterre before joining Virtus Bologna in 2021, knows well.
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Surprise guest
From there to imagining the person concerned evolving at the level where he has been since the start of the campaign and even more so in the last two matches, there is a world of difference… Vincent Collet also speaks of him as a “surprise guest” who has the leisure to show himself because “For two matches, we have taken over from me. If you determine things in advance and everything is done on the basis of status, it is not possible.”explains the coach. Cordinier still had to seize the opportunity. He did. “He is capable of doing that. Since we were little, when I played him as a cadet, in Antibes with Thimothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, he pissed us off because all he did was dunk everywhere, shoot three-pointers and shout (smile). He was already that kind of playerremembers Yabusele. Seeing him like that, so confident, his rise, it’s incredible. He pushes the whole team at times when we need it.”. Un booster.
Fournier, for his part, evokes a “boy who works”retracing in these terms the journey of the man who stole his place in the five: “It’s symbolic because he arrived in 2021, as a training partner. Impeccable. He stayed with us in Tokyo, until the last day, he even returned to the village, he saw us climb on the podium, he gets cut the following year before Euro 2022, he doesn’t say anything, he shuts his mouth, he works, he comes back year after year and in the last two matches he’s one of our best players. I’m proud of him, really happy, he’s a great guy. He deserves everything he gets.”he greets. Last year, Cordinier, 27 years old and 39 selections with the A, only owed his place in the list for the World Cup to a forfeit. “It’s the first time I’ve made the cut, that I’ve had a role other than elite defender. It’s this trust that we have in each other, we know that everyone can contribute at some point. Afterwards, with the flow and the collective energy, we look anyone in the eye.”he swears.
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It’s special for me to take over from my father who brought the Olympics to Atlanta.
Isaïa Cordinier
This campaign is also a family story for Isaïa, who is following in the footsteps of Stéphane Cordinier, his father, a French international handball player. “It’s special for me to take up the torch from my father who did the Olympics in Atlanta. It was always a goal to do the Olympics in Paris, I stay true to myself and it pays off”he smiles, he who notably made two extremely important throws at the end of the match against Germany on Thursday. Nerves of steel. “We will try to get the best medal (this) Saturday. We will do everything to do it.”he insists, evoking an atmosphere “unique, special” at Bercy, but not only. “What is happening in the streets, in the city and in the stands, we will never experience that again in our lives. This is one more reason to tear everything up on Saturday.”he promises. We can trust him. It may not be enough against the American armada, but he will give it his all, that’s for sure.
