The Olympic champions have difficulty defeated the Poles who played at home, thus opening almost the doors of the main lathe.
Mo12345lemonde with AFP
The French handball team has hardly tamed the local fervor to succeed in its first World Cup match against Poland (26-24) Wednesday January 11 in Katowice. This success already clarifies his career: taking advantage of a competition bringing together 32 teams, of which only one per hen will be eliminated at the end of the first round, the Blues are almost already qualified for the main tour while they will face the modest Saudi Arabia Saturday, then Slovenia Monday.
The reigning Olympic champions aim, on January 29 in Stockholm, a seventh world crown which has been leaking them for six years.
With this first victory against Poland, the Blues even surround the door of the quarterfinals for which all the points acquired will be kept against the qualified teams for the main tour.
Poland will likely be, she, who is probably the most tough opponent of the French in this first round, carried by her audience, 11,000 spectators heated white and red, supporting the “Polska, Polska!”.
without Luka Karabatic 2>
Even without her best player, the pivot of Paris Saint-Germain, Kamil Syprzak, she gave a lot of a hard time to the Blues, deprived of their captain and pillar of the defense, Luka Karabatic, victim of a Lumbago, And the right winger Valentin Porte, injured in the thigh.
“We must remember the difficulty of starting a competition and this match had everything in the trap match: big public pressure, a little tension in terms of refereeing which I find did not allow us to develop our game “said coach Guillaume Gille.
His team was until the end under the threat of the Poles, who were even in the shoulder ten minutes from the end (21-21).
If Gérard released the stops that needed at the right time, the Blues were also able to count on a dika Mem of the big evenings. The right rear of FC Barcelona scored five of his six goals after rest, at a period when his team was a little in defense and seemed to lack fluidity in attack.
Thibaud Brief then finally scored the first French goal of the evening to the left -back post, before being excluded for two minutes: during this numerical inferiority, the men of Gille scored two goals without Make a single one, to take three lengths in advance (52 e , 24-21). Then, two consecutive judgments by Vincent Gérard (58
a large dika kem
The Blues would probably have been able to spare so many cold sweats if they had managed to put their heads under the water of the Poles at the end of the first period, when they had taken four goals in advance (12- 8, 21 e ). But the changes made to blow the holders were ineffective.
“The defensive sector has brought stability in the absence of one of our twin rounds in defense [Luka Karabatic], said Guillaume Gille. In attack, it was more irregular with some approximations, balloons by earth. The signs of a start of competition. “