In this new formula which obliges nations to extricate themselves from a preliminary round, to join a main round, before entering the final stages and hoping to win the world title, it may seem counter-intuitive that the last meeting of the preliminary round could be endowed with such a stake. However, Monday, January 16, the France team, already qualified for the second stage thanks to its big victory against Saudi Arabia (41-23), has every interest in avoiding a misstep against Slovenia.
“It’s a bit of a small preliminary round final. It will also allow us to assess ourselves in the second very big test ”after the opening against Poland (26-24), underlined coach Guillaume Gille on Sunday.
The beating inflicted by the Slovenians (32-23) on the Poles in front of their home crowd raised the stakes of this match: the winner will thus approach the main phase, from Wednesday in Krakow, with four units on the clock, two more than the loser since only the points acquired against the qualified teams will be kept.
Avoid a Spanish galley
A comfortable mattress before finding themselves in a group a priori composed, in addition to Slovenia, Poland or Saudi Arabia (two teams that the Blues will not face again), Spain, Iran and Montenegro.
Two successes against the last two cities should then be enough to qualify for the quarterfinals before playing for first place against the Spaniards. Conversely, a setback on Monday and the Blues would be doomed to beat Spain and pull out the calculators to see Gdansk and the quarters.
Tricolor goalkeeper Vincent Gérard expects the Slovenians, who have received an invitation to participate in the World Cup, to offer a “different” challenge from that launched by the Poles, who relied heavily on the “physical, the notion of fight”. “They are very good ball handlers, we will not have to get annoyed, get upset because they often go after each action (and don’t shoot fast)”, he develops.
To contain these attacks, can France count on its captain and pillar of the defense, Luka Karabatic? The pivot of Paris SG, package for the first two meetings due to lumbago, is “still in a process” of convalescence, in which “we gradually go up in workload”, according to Gille.
“We are attentive to his feeling, things continue to move in the right direction. Will this be enough for tomorrow (Monday)? “added the coach. For left winger Dylan Nahi, who experienced a “small alert” in an ankle against Saudi Arabia, Guillaume Gille does not show “a big concern”.