France, Germany, Canada advance to Paris Olympics basketball quarters

France’s Matthew Strazel celebrates after France defeated Japan in a men’s basketball game at the Paris Olympics 2024, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France— France’s miracle last-second comeback at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday got even better a few hours later, when the host nation clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and a trip to 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.

France, the silver medalist to the U.S. at the Tokyo Games three years ago, is in the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive Olympics. Germany has now made the quarterfinals for the second consecutive Olympics — after not making it that far in the tournament since 1992 — and Canada is in the quarters for the first time since 2000.

SCHEDULE: Men’s basketball at Paris Olympics 2024

Canada leads Group A at 2-0, followed by Australia and Spain at 1-1 and Greece at 0-2. Germany and France are atop Group B at 2-0, over Brazil and Japan. And Group C gets through its second day of games on Wednesday; the U.S. and South Sudan are both 1-0, while Puerto Rico and Serbia are both 0-1.

“Obviously, it’s nice to get the first two and now we’ve qualified,” Germany coach Gordie Herbert said. “It’s a good situation for us.”

The full quarterfinal field may not be known until Saturday, when the draw for the quarterfinal matchups will be held. The knockout round starts next week in Paris.