The partners of Nikola Karabatic disposed, on Saturday, of the Saudi team, in their second match of the world championship in Poland (41-23).
MO12345lemonde with AFP
A victory without forcing each other, more than forty points registered and a playing time widely distributed between the players. For his second match in the world championship in Poland, the French male handball team did not have to draw on its reserves to take the best on Saudi Arabia, Saturday January 14. Winners (41-23) in Katowice, Nikola Karabatic’s partners validated their ticket for the main round of the World Cup, three days after their inaugural victory against the Polish host.
Opposed to a team composed exclusively of amateur players and whose coach, Jan Pytlick, insisted on hand news that it was there” above all to learn, to garner From the experience “while recognizing that” the level is much higher than what [his] players are used to “, the Blues knew that the outcome of the game was hardly in doubt. But the tricolor technician, Guillaume Gille, had fixed his troops a list of tasks to accomplish: “Distribute the playing times, give their first minutes to the youngest, do that everyone enters competition”.
Faced with a most modest opponent, the Blues came close to the casualness during the first twenty minutes, alternating lack of defensive involvement, imprecise passes and shots without too much conviction. And the Saudis did not fail to sanction these inaccuracies, returning to two lengths from the French (12-10, 17
“It is not because I evaluate this team as the weakest of the group that it will be a simple match to play, quite the contrary,” warned Guillaume Gilles on the eve of the match. Forced to tighten the bolts, the French technician saw his team come back with more desire, folding the part before rest on the wings of a Yannis Lenne in verve (eight goals in total).
If they have nevertheless conceded more than twenty goals against Saudi Arabia, a few days after their whispering in the Class in front of the Poles (26-24), the Blues took place in the second period. And no longer having any doubt about the final result, coach Guillaume Gille allowed himself to “give food”, as he explained the day before, to his players in lack of playing time during the opening match or during the preparation.
The veteran winger Valentin Porte found the field, after missing the first match. And even the third goalkeeper, Charles Bolzinger (a stop), offered himself at the very end of the match his first international cape. For his part, Captain Luka Karabatic was again preserved, like the right back Dika Mem, with a view to future deadlines.
qualified for the main tour, failing to have convinced for two games, the Blues will complete their first round on Monday against Slovenia. They will want to approach the main phase with full points, with a view to a qualification for the quarterfinals.