Franz Wagner goes to the basket past France's Victor Wembanyama. GETTY IMAGES

Canada make it a clean sweep of Group A after an incredible game against Spain, who are eliminated. Australia and Brazil have also qualified, while Greece must wait for Group C to be resolved on Saturday.

Vibrant day at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. The day ended with the match between France and Germany for the first place in Group B. The hosts were counting on the atmosphere in Lille to help them beat the world champions.

It was mission impossible. Germany played an almost perfect first half. Defensively, they closed down almost every avenue. They did not let the French get into a good rhythm. The frustration meant that the Germans managed to score with ease at many moments. At half-time, the hosts were down 27-48. 

In the third quarter, the gap remained the same and in the last quarter, France pushed for a comeback, with the crowd getting more and more into the game, but the attempts were futile. Germany won 71-85 and took first place in the group. The two stars of the team responded to the challenge. Franz Wagner and Denis Schroder scored 26 points each. The French top scorer was Victor Wembanyama, with 14 points and 12 rebounds.



In Group B, the other match pitted Japan against Brazil. The challenge for both teams was to win by the maximum possible margin to have a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals as one of the two best third-placed teams.

Brazil started very strongly, led by Marcelinho Huertas and with Bruno Caboclo as the enforcer. At the end of the first quarter, they accelerated even more and closed it with a score of 20-31.

Yuki Kawamura drives to the basket past Brazil's 09 Marcelinho Huertas. GETTY IMAGES
Yuki Kawamura drives to the basket past Brazil's 09 Marcelinho Huertas. GETTY IMAGES

Japan was missing its star player, Rui Hachimura. The Los Angeles Lakers forward was sidelined with a calf injury. But the Asians were improving in defence and increasing their shooting accuracy and contained the South Americans. They went into the final quarter with the game well in hand (73-77). The final minutes saw another twist in the game. Brazil's outside shooting showed up at the best moment, they overcame Japan's resistance and managed to win by 18 points (84-102). Thanks to the subsequent results of Greece and Australia, they qualified.

Caboclo finished with a spectacular statistic: 33 points and 17 rebounds, with 4/4 in three-pointers. A nightmare for Japan. Vítor Benite contributed 19 points and 5/7 three-pointers. Huertas, at 41, had 13 points and eight assists. For Japan, Josh Hawkinson was the top scorer this time, with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Yuki Kawamura, one of the sensations of the tournament at 1.72m, had 21 points and 10 assists. Japan bowed out of a tournament in which they came close to beating France.

Tremendous last day of Group A

The so-called 'group of death' proved on matchday three why it was the toughest. Greece were desperate going into this final match because they had to beat Australia by the maximum possible margin and hope for other results. That was the consequence of losing to Canada and Spain.

After exchanging baskets a lot in the first quarter, Greece went on the attack in the second. They took the Aussies out of the game at times, and the Australians began to look dizzy at the prospect of elimination. At half-time, they were down 36-53.

The Aussies went into the locker room to cool down and think about the right formula. Defence was the key. They applied themselves with intensity and Greece no longer looked so strong. The physicality of the Oceania team began to make a difference, just as it did against Spain. The gap was beginning to narrow.

In the last quarter, the excitement increased. With just over three minutes to go, Australia got within two points, but they got no further. A three-pointer by Vassilis Toliopoulos and another by Tomas Walkup sealed the game, which Greece won 71-77. Giannis Antetokounmpo top scored 20 points for the Greeks. Jock Landale, with 17, for the Australians. With that win, the Greeks were assured of third place, but having narrowed the gap could have been good for Australia. It would all come down to Canada-Spain.



The last match in Group B was the best of the lot. The Canadians had qualified but needed to win to take first place. After Greece's victory, Spain went into the match with the only option of winning. If they beat Canada, they would be top of the group, if they lost, they would be fourth and eliminated.

Canada took the lead right from the start of the match, and this was the case for most of the game. Spain began an exercise in resistance so that the difference would not grow too much. The difference in talent was evident, but the Spaniards have already shown on many occasions that it takes more than talent to beat them.

The Canadian team threatened at times to open up a significant gap. Spain's defence managed to prevent this from happening. The difficulty was the number of players they had to look at because of the danger they posed.

In the last quarter, Canada started to get very uncomfortable. They haven't had any easy wins, but this time the challenge was tougher than usual. Dario Brizuela appeared to score several baskets that tightened the scoreboard. In the last minute, Spain pulled within two points. A three-pointer by R.J. Barrett and two free throws by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kept Canada ahead. Sergio Llull's last three-pointer missed and the game ended 88-85.



Gilgeous-Alexander showed that he is the team's big star. Not only for scoring 20 points but for leading the team for many stretches of the game especially in the final minutes. The emergence of Andrew Nembhard, with 18 points, and Barrett's 16 points were key.

In Spain, the highlight was that this was the last game of Rudy Fernández's career. In his sixth Olympic Games, he was unable to reach the lofty heights to which he had been accustomed. But the displays of pride from his teammates and the Spanish fans will help to lessen the disappointment. The Spain of the two silver medals and the silver bronze in which Rudy played may not be as talented now, but they have competed against three great teams and shown that they are still a team to be reckoned with.



Canada went through as the worst of the group winners, with the USA expected to beat Puerto Rico in Saturday's 17:15 local time match. Serbia needs to beat South Sudan to be the best runners-up and be in the same draw as the Canadians in the quarter-final draw. The first draw for the USA and Germany, the third draw for France and Australia and the last draw for the two best third-placed teams. One is Brazil. Greece needs Serbia to beat the South Sudanese by three points or more to qualify.