The French, gathered for two preparation modules in Créteil at the end of December and the beginning of January, put behind them some of the vicissitudes that have affected them over the past three weeks (positive Covid tests for several players, injuries to Nedim Remili and Luka Karabatic, knife attack of which Elohim Prandi was victim), to gauge himself against Germany.
With Nikola Karabatic for the first time in the role of captain, Guillaume Gille’s players had a very solid first period defensively, with some difficulties against German wingers Marcel Schiller (left) and Kai Häfner (right).
The French returned to the locker room with a four-goal advantage (18-14), but the second half was more difficult, especially against German gunners Julius Kühn, Timo Kastening and Sebastian Heymann.
“We had a very good first half. In second, we are in the red on technical errors, loss of ball, errors that weigh on us because they put easy goals on the counterattack, ”commented Nikola Karabatic.
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“Automatics are missing”
Vincent Gérard, who did not prepare for Créteil because of a family drama, made two good entries for the last ten minutes of the first and second half. His saves at the end of the match allowed the French to pick up the score (from 31-28 to 32-32), but he could not do anything on the last second shot of Luca Witzke which gave the victory to the Germans .
“We have a great depth of workforce, which we want to make full use of. It is also important for everyone to find their bearings. We lack working time, we lack automation, but we are here to continue to work and make sure we are ready to start the Euro, ”said the coach.
“We would have preferred to have a victory, I think it was within our reach today, but that’s how it is. There is a very big game that awaits us against Croatia, to start the Euro, we have no room for error, ”warned Nikola Karabatic, interim captain pending a possible return from Valentin Porte, positive for Covid-19 Thursday.
On Monday, the French will fly to Szeged from Frankfurt. In Hungary, they will face Croatia on Thursday (8:30 p.m.), for their first match of the 1st round of Euro-2022. Guillaume Gille’s players will then play against Ukraine (Saturday, 6:00 p.m.) and Serbia two days later (Monday, 8:30 p.m.).
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