Beaten 33 to 34 by the Swedes in the semifinal of the euro, the French will target the bronze Sunday against Denmark. The successful rejuvenation of the team encourages optimism for the 2024 Olympics.
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The penultimate walk was too high. Beat 33-34 by Sweden, Friday, January 28, in Budapest (Hungary), the France team fails a breath at the gates of the EURO final. If the gap has been tightened for a year, the Blues have failed to take their revenge on the team that came out in the semifinal of the Egyptian World. They will face Denmark on Sunday, dominated in the other semifinal by Spain 25 to 29, for the bronze medal. For its part, the Roja will aim for a third consecutive European coronation against Sweden.
Despite a good start, the blues have never found the solution against the Swedish bulldozer Jim Gottfridsson, author of nine goals, who has constantly open breaches in their defense. Another player has tipped the scales on the side of the yellows and blue: the keeper Andreas Palicka, author of 12 parades, who will soon replace Vincent Gérard in the cages of Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG). The latter, brilliant at the beginning of the tournament, missed his match.
Led four goals at ten minutes of the term, the French fought to the end. Without a magistral stop of Palicka, they could have equalized five seconds of the end on a pivot shot of Ludovic Fabregas. The miracle did not take place, despite the unfochable state of mind of the team, “said Valentin Porte, the Captain of the Blues, at the microphone of Bein Sports.
“The two teams were close, but we gave them too many gifts. We suffered the duels, we left too much space between our defenders,” said Guillaume Gille, back on the bench of the Blues after a week of isolation due to COVID-19. “It’s hard to die to a goal, we are disappointed, but we have given everything and we can be proud of our service,” said Nikola Karabatic, the leader of the Blues in the absence of Kentin Mahe, always confined.
Six months after their coronation in Tokyo, the return on earth is brutal for the Olympic champions, but their goal, which was to appear in the last square, is reached. “Given the difficulties in which the team had to face, it is a great performance, even if there was no medal at the end”, insists Jerome Fernandez, the master of the experts (nickname given to the generation 2008-2017 Blues).
A remodeled team over the contaminations of COVID-19
Since the month of August, water has passed under the bridges and the France team that disputes the euro is not the one that created the surprise in Japan. The pillars Luc Abalo and Michael Guigou retired. Several licensees, such as defender Luka Karabatic and Half-center Nedim Remili, wounded before the tournament. In the course of competition, Guillaume Gille had to reshape his team with the contaminations at COVID-19, more than a dozen in the French camp.
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