“We are still recovering …” Laurent Tille, the coach of the France team, has not yet something to boast about. Two days after the drop received against the United States, the Habs got back in the direction of travel without trembling in three sets against Tunisia (25-21, 25-11, 25-22). “We had to regain confidence,” sums up the sharp Stephen Boyer. We were able to start again, react very quickly, it’s very important. We will say that our competition starts now! “
Returned late on Saturday night, on the field Sunday at 11 am and then launched into the video preparation, the French hardly had time to think about it. “We had to dispel the doubt after a stiff defeat, blows the libero Jenia Grebennikov. We are getting back to our game little by little and it’s interesting. “From the first point, won on a huge battle cry, we felt that the Blues were already chasing the demons of Ariake Arena.
“We just have to express ourselves”
“We wanted to quickly show that we were going to have aggressiveness, desire, the will to present another face, summarizes the central Barthélémy Chinenyeze. 3-0 against the Tunisians is the right plan. We will continue like this. To restart the machine, Tillie had chosen to trust Thomas Clévenot in his starting six and especially Antoine Brizard on the pass and in place of captain Benjamin Toniutti.
“We had to vary, play our game, not be too mechanical like against the Americans,” explains Clévenot. We must try not to take this pressure from the Games and simply speak out. This is the key. “Wednesday, against Argentina (7.20 am in France), Tillie’s men will still have to make a perfect copy on the scoreboard.
“It’s hard, it creaks all over the place but we won 3-0, loose the coach. All points, sets and matches are going to be important to survive (Editor’s note: in a group that also includes Brazil and Italy). In the women’s tournament, defending Olympic champions China took a 3-0 beating against Turkey! At the Olympics, it happens everywhere … “
