Received six out of six. The French team, already qualified for the quarter-finals, continued its flawless course at the World Handball Championship by signing a sixth victory, Sunday January 22 against Spain (28-26) in Krakow, to finish in the lead. of his group.
This first place sends the Blues in the table part of Sweden, reigning European champion and potential opponent in the semi-finals in Stockholm.
Before thinking about the last four, they will have to defeat Germany or Norway in the quarter-finals on Wednesday in Gdansk (Poland), opposed on Monday.
If they said they wanted to calibrate themselves, before this double or quits match against one of the best teams in the world (current European vice-champion), it is not certain that they can draw a lot of lessons from this match, which was played for a long time at a very calm tempo between two teams that had already qualified.
The Blues started with their standard team. Injured in the abdominals during the opening match against Poland (26-24), right-back Dika Mem was back on the pitch. With four goals out of six attempts, the FC Barcelona player seems fully recovered. Coach Guillaume Gille then made his first almost complete rotation (only Nedim Remili remained) before the twentieth minute.
Prandi wounded
The French have long not put the defensive intensity of a cleaver match. They made some bad choices and sometimes showed clumsiness in shooting (0/3 for Yannis Lenne on his right wing) which can be attributed to a certain lack of concentration.
But, in front of some eighty French supporters who came to put some atmosphere in the icy Tauron Arena (15,000 seats), two-thirds empty, they did not let go when they were led by three goals at the start. second half (16-19).
They gradually recovered their delay to go back in front with just over ten minutes from the end (24-23) after a goal from Elohim Prandi, who twisted his left ankle on his own at the very end of the match.
“As we speak, I have no other information. We just know that when someone goes out after twisting their ankle, there is sure to be damage. How serious? We’ll see “commented Gille after the match.
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The end of the game was more worthy of a clash between leaders. Gille’s cry of rage when Nicolas Tournat gave the Blues a three-goal lead, or Gérard’s clenched fist when he stopped Kauldi Odriozola’s shot to maintain this gap in the 58the minute proves that the reigning Olympic champions did not intend for their winning momentum to be so easily interrupted before the cutthroat matches.
In other games, the Hungarians took the last ticket for the quarters thanks to their victory against Cape Verde (42-30) coupled with the defeat against Sweden from Portugal (32-30).
They are joined by Iceland, victorious over Brazil (41-37). Montenegro also beat Slovenia on Sunday night (23-31) and Iran defeated Poland (22-26).