First, let’s sum up: the French team has made a perfect success of its entry into the World Championship. In the preliminary round, they suffered against Poland (26-24), had fun against Saudi Arabia (41-23) and did the job against Slovenia (35-31). So far, everything is going well, including the new PCR tests carried out: they are negative. We will know an hour before the match if Dika Mem, who is suffering from a contracture, is fit, but he will “most certainly” still be out, warns coach Guillaume Gille. No worries on the other hand for Nedim Remili, only victim of a cramp against the Slovenians.
From January 18, France will attack the main round of the World Cup with a formula still too complicated with three new matches against Montenegro this Wednesday (6 p.m., live on BeINSport), in two days against Iran at the same hour, before finishing on Sunday 22 in the evening against Spain. Do not look elsewhere for the most formidable opponent of this second phase: it is obviously Spain.
At the end of this “main round” in Krakow which also hosts Poland and Slovenia, which the Blues do not meet again, the first two will go to the quarter-finals in the middle of next week. For the players of Guillaume Gille who have made so far – like the Spaniards – the full points, the deal is simple. To get into the quarter in Gdansk, they need to win at least two games. They benefit from a joker in case of concern. A defeat will not change the qualification. It will just offer a more complicated route to finish the tournament. It’s always better to avoid it.
Suffice to say that the quarter-final is (practically) in the pocket. If there is a real danger against Spain, we do not see how the Olympic champions can lose against Montenegro and even less against Iran. Of course, there is always the famous uncertainty of sport. Only, Montenegrins and Iranians are less strong than the Poles or the Slovenes. So it should be fine.
Only concern: facing these two nations, the Blues lack benchmarks. Iran is completely unknown and in their history they have only faced Montenegro twice. The last confrontation dates back only a year during the Euro in Hungary. The Blues had won 37-26. It leaves room.
“Compared to the team we faced last year, the formation of Montenegro has changed very little,” says Érick Mathé, Guillaume Gille’s assistant. She relies in particular on the two Vujovic, the right back, Branko, and the left winger, Milos. There is also Nebojsa Simic in goal. If finally the score was wide last year (+ 9), it was tight for a good half. The France team had to react after the disappointment against Iceland and we had a very serious match. This team has a lot of qualities and if we play a notch below, we could pay dearly. We approach this match with the utmost seriousness. »
This is obviously the rule to apply. Les Bleus, who are aiming for at least a place in the semi-finals and even more, a new title of world champion, do not intend to lose a single match during this World Cup. If so, it’s bound to end well.