Mission and objectives accomplished: the French team is in the semi-finals of the European championship. It’s done and the last group match this Wednesday against Spain will not change anything. It will even count as butter. Author of a flawless run so far in their new haunt of Skopje (5 games, 5 wins) in North Macedonia, the Olympic champions had started the Euro with one goal: “Our minimum objective is to go in the semi-final, coach Olivier Krumbholz slipped before the start, who is playing his 11th and last Euro at the head of the Blues since he will stop after Paris 2024. Once we get there, I trust the girls to do everything what it takes to get to the final. But right now, I don’t think of anything other than the last four. Going there will already be a very nice performance. »
That’s it: the Blue are in the last four from Friday they will play in Ljubljana, in the Slovenian capital. By the way, they are also now officially qualified for the 2023 World Cup which will take place in Denmark, Norway and Sweden in exactly one year. This will be the last stage before Paris 2024.
After 2016, 2018 and 2020, this is the fourth time in a row that the French team has reached the semi-finals of the Euro. She won the three colors there: bronze 6 years ago, gold two years later and silver in the confinement of the Danish Euro.
An impregnable defense
The French will know their opponent for the semi-final, which will take place on Friday, at the end of the last day in the other pool which takes place this Wednesday. It should be against Denmark who currently occupy second place in the group. It could also be against Sweden or even Slovenia. It doesn’t matter: the most important thing is to avoid the reigning world and European champions from Norway until the final.
The Norwegians, still undefeated too, remain the big favorites of the tournament. We will see if fate offers us a remake of the 2020 final on Sunday when Norway beat Les Bleues 22-20. The score was even wider a year ago in Barcelona in the World Cup final: 29-22.
In the meantime, so far for France, all is well. Germany in turn paid the price of the tricolor steamroller, of its impregnable defense. Les Bleues immediately took the measure of the game and never let go. Returning to the locker room with a 4-goal lead (13-9), the French have dominated Germany as they have so far dominated all their opponents (29-21). But there is still the hardest part to do: “It was a tense match but we expected it, underlined the coach at the microphone of BeINSport. We had to insure. We will take advantage of the match against Spain to rotate the squad. We have indeed succeeded in our objective and we are now going to seek added value. »