France is looking for payback when they face Spain for the second time in a week but the favoured hosts want a repeat performance from the group stages of the 2014 FIBA World Cup. The Spaniards manhandled the French, 88-64 last Wednesday and the Euro rivals meet again in the quarterfinal round of the basketball world championships in Spain.

How Spain, France Got to the Quarterfinals

Spain has so far lived up to the billing as one of teams to beat the FIBA World Cup by winning all of their games via blowouts. Undefeated in six games, Spain opened with a 30-point win over Iran, 90-60 and followed it up with another easy victory over Egypt, 91-54. Against the supposed quality teams left in the group, Spain once again were rude hosts with big wins over Brazil, 82-63; France, 88-64 and Serbia, 89-73. Their most recent game is yet another blowout getting the W over Senegal, 89-56 in the Round of 16 knockout game.

Meanwhile, France started with a few close calls, losing to Brazil, 63-65 in their opener and winning over Serbia, 74-73 by a hair. France then trampled Egypt, 94-55 before losing to Spain. They finished Group A with a win over Iran, 81-76. They advanced to the QF round with a 69-64 victory over the Croatians in the do-or-die affair.

Spain vs. France History

Before their group stage meeting last Wednesday, France and Spain have met twice before in a FIBA World Cup (previously called FIBA World Championships) game with Spain leading 2-1 in world championship head-to-head:

France def. Spain, 72-66 (Aug. 28, 2010)
Spain def. France, 84-80 (July 5, 1986)

While Spain has taken the last match between these two squads, France has earned the bigger bragging rights; the French beat the Spaniards, 75-72 in overtime in the semifinals of the 2013 FIBA Eurobasket. France went on to beat Lithuania in the Euro championship round to earn their first-ever continental title.

Spain vs. France at the 2013 Eurobasket:

(YouTube/FIBAEuropeTV)

However, the line-up for both squads is very different from the 2013 meeting. Spain then was missing big men Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls and Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both are key players in the tournament with Gasol averaging 20.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game and Ibaka providing quality production with 9.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in just 19 minutes per game.

Conversely, there are some French players who are not present in the World Cup but played a vital part in France’s championship run at the Eurobasket. Tony Parker is out of the line-up due to an injury and he was big France’s title run with 32 points in the semis win vs. Spain. Back-up point guard Nando de Colo and center Alexis Ajinca are also out due to various injuries.

Group stage Spain vs. France highlights:

(YouTube/FIBA)

Other Spanish players to lookout for are Marc Gasol (17 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals vs. France) of the Memphis Grizzlies and Ricky Rubio (5.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.7 steals per game in the World Cup) of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

France meanwhile will bank on the likes of Nicolas Batum (14 points and 4 steals vs. Croatia) of the Portland Trail Blazers and center Joffrey Lauvergne (19 points and 6 rebounds vs. Serbia)

Can France duplicate their Eurobasket feat? Or will the Spain protect homecourt and advance to the semifinals?

Watch the quarterfinals of the 2014 FIBA World Cup: Spain vs. France live streaming via these links: ESPN and LiveBasketball.TV.