Dominated by Sweden on Friday (32-26) in the semi-finals of the World Cup handball in Egypt, theFrench team must find the resources to snatch bronze on Sunday (2:30 p.m.) against Spain and maintain its rank for Guillaume Gille’s first campaign. Follow the match live.
In the huge sports hall (17,000 seats) in Cairo empty of spectators they were discovering, the Blues fell on stronger than them. The awakening is painful this Saturday for a team which arrived in Egypt on tiptoe, after its historic elimination in the first round of Euro 2020, but which had regained its ambitions over its seven straight victories.
In the quarterfinals, the painful qualification snatched away after extra time against Hungary (35-32) had highlighted the French weaknesses: another bad start, as against Switzerland (25-24) and Algeria (29-26) , and a center-half Kentin Mahé missing from Portugal (32-23).
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With the injuries of guard Luka Karabatic and gunner Timothey N’Guessan, added to those of Nikola Karabatic, Elohim Prandi and Wesley Pardin, the clouds have accumulated. It is ultimately the goalkeeper of Aix-en-Provence who will have missed the most: without him, Vincent Gérard (1 save in 20 shots) and Yann Genty (3 out of 16) did not weigh heavily against the festival of Andreas Palicka (11 out of 35 stops).
“It was perhaps a little too high”, sighed, with a sad look, captain Michaël Guigou who saw the dream of a fifth world title fly away after 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017. We will try to find the energy and the rotations to come out with our heads held high. “
” Glimmer of hope “
In the space of 24 hours, the Blues must first “To settle what there is to settle after this match which is heavy, which will weigh in the bodies and especially in the heads”. “Because we all imagined another way out of this meeting”, admitted Guillaume Gille.
Besides the fact of “End on a positive note”, according to the coach, there is no lack of motivation to go for a third bronze medal in as many years, after those obtained at Euro 2018 and the 2019 World Cup.
First, France is coming back ” from far away “, recalls Dika Mem. For his first campaign, Gille, the former assistant to Didier Dinart ousted after the Euro fiasco, would fulfill the objective cautiously set in early January for the Blues then in the fog, after two unsuccessful matches against Serbia, of “To be able to claim to fight for the distribution of medals”.
After the Swedish failure, a success in Spain “Would do the head good”, adds Ludovic Fabregas who is also looking towards the next chapter: the qualifying tournament (TQO) for the Tokyo Games, in mid-March in Montpellier against Croatia, Tunisia and Portugal, is coming very quickly.
“It would be a beacon of hope for the future and in the short term for the TQO and potentially for the Games if we qualify,” said the pivot. We will also try to reward the old ones, it will perhaps be their last World Cup. “
Monuments Guigou (38) and Luc Abalo (36), who together had as many selections (565) as the entire Swedish team combined, will probably have Tokyo as the final horizon of an international career full of titles: four Worlds (three for Abalo, absent due to injury in 2015), three Euros, two Olympic Games.
A ripe Spain
Spain, double reigning European champion whose two years of invincibility ended against Denmark (35-33) in the other semi-final, also has some executives close to the end of the clap with Raul Entrerrios ( 39), Daniel Sarmiento (37) and Viran Morros (36), but has not won a world medal since home gold in 2013.
“There is a medal at stake. It’s always important”, confirms Sarmiento, the center-half of Saint-Raphaël who therefore knows the Blues by heart, like many of his compatriots: Solé and Morros play in Paris, Figueras in Nantes… With the reunion between Barcelona – Fabregas, Mem and N’Guessan on one side, Entrerrios, Gomez, Perez de Vargas, Arino on the other – it will almost be a family reunion.
The “Hispanos” go “Find the strength to play this match”, says Morros. Still a player despite her age, it will not be necessary to count on this Spain to serve the charm on a plateau.
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