It’s better. Much better. Beaten (31-26) by Denmark the day before, the France team reacted well to their second match in this first weekend of the Golden League. In Trondheim, Guillaume Gille’s players win (31-25) against the host country. The French coach, who had chosen to take with him a workforce far from the one who became Olympic champion in early August, will surely be able to draw the right lessons.
What you must remember
From the start of the meeting, Guillaume Gille however chose to align his four Olympic champions (Valentin Porte, Hugo Descat, Kentin Mahé, Timothey N’Guessan) from the outset so as not to leave Norway, who had beaten the Blues in the pool at the Tokyo Games, the opportunity to take the initiative. And it works: well helped by their goalkeeper Kévin Bonnefoi, the Blues make the difference (11-8, 19th), thanks to the skill of N’Guessan and Arthur, without complex from the top of his 20 years. Behind, Karl Konan (Aix and future Montpellier) consolidates the blue wall and his balloon lifts hit the mark. At the break, the gap is significant (17-13).
The rest does not add anything new. The Blues keep their lead until the last quarter of an hour. In the tricolor cage, Rémi Desbonnet finally finds the right rhythm after a few failures (24-19, 45th). The French coach continues to rotate his workforce, with varying degrees of success. If the habits between Luc Tobie and Jean-Jacques Acquevillo, the two Nîmes, are obvious, Dylan Nahi the former Parisian does not immediately find the right target. Without trembling, the young tricolor shoots keep their lead.
The player: Aymeric Minne
It’s hard to say that a player alone made the difference in this game. There is a lot of satisfaction, and more hesitation. Nothing could be more normal with a very large majority of novice players in the big leagues. As you have to choose one, it will therefore be the 24-year-old from Nantes. The one who knocked on the door of the Blues for some time allowed his team to keep the good lead acquired before the break. Accurate on shots, the former Aixois born in Melun was also distinguished by his reading of the game and his assists. A definite asset for Gille as a center-half, where Nedim Remili and Kentin Mahé are already playing.
The number: 151
That is to say the gap between Valentin Porte (31 years old) and Arthur Lenne (20 years old) in terms of the number of selections for the French team. The two players, who play in Montpellier, were accompanied in Trondheim by four of their club teammates. There were also three Nîmes, and only two PSG players (Elohim Prandi and Benoît Kounkoud), who entered late in the match.
