The Spanish men’s team handball conceded this Thursday a tough defeat at the hands of France (44-33) in the first of the two friendlies played by both teams on French soil, a match held at the Accor Arena in Paris. The ‘Hispanics’ suffered the great effectiveness of a grown France in the final meters and capable of penalizing every mistake made by Jordi Ribera’s pupils. A convincing partial at the beginning of 5-1 was a declaration of intentions by the French team, which was led by Hugo Descat, author of 12 goals. Also joining the local party were Dika Mem, author of 6 goals, one of them beautifully made, and Kentin Mahé, who scored 8 leaving Spain dry at half-time and having conceded 24 goals, a figure never seen in the ‘Hispanics’ .
Jordi Ribera adjusted the scheme with a 7 for 6 in search of overcoming the French defense and closing the gap, something he achieved at first (14-10) although France once again pressed the accelerator to the bottom and to top it off, the exclusion of Gideón Guardiola at the stroke of half-time left Spain without further arguments (24-15).
In the second half everything remained the same, France scoring easily and Spain, somewhat finer on the offensive plane, could not contain the flow of the locals in the opposite area. They arrived with 12 down in the last third of the game (32-20).
Spain took advantage of the final stretch to sharing minutes between players like Ander Izquierdo and Imanol Garciandia, as well as the international debut of Jorge Serranobut could not avoid a heavy defeat in his first friendly in France, which he will be able to wipe out next Saturday (9:05 p.m.) in the second round.
