Jaylen Brown (R) of the United States competes during the quarter-final match between the United States and France at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhu Zheng)
DONGGUAN, China, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- France set its goal to the top podium after beating USA 89-79 in the quarterfinal of FIBA Basketball World Cup here on Wednesday.
France recorded its first victory over the U.S. in major tournaments including Olympics and the World Cup after losing all nine previous encounters.
"We came here to win gold. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. A lot of people counted us out, but we got the win," said Gobert, who dominated the paint to score 21 points and 16 rebounds for France and was named MVP of the game.
"It doesn't mean anything if you don't win in the end," the 27-year-old center added.
France coach Vincent Collet noted that the U.S. players had a lack of experience in international events, unlike the French team.
The U.S. edged France 100-97 in their last meeting at Rio Olympics in 2016. Gobert, De Colo, and Nicolas Batum were in that French team. However, no American player who played that game three years ago is in this World Cup team.
"Team USA has quality players, but maybe they was a lack of experience, our players have more experience of playing tournaments like this," Collet said.
France will take on Argentina in the semifinal, who beat another title favorite Serbia on Tuesday.
"We are happy but we start to think about the next game. We can not be too happy to play the semifinal," he added.
