Even leaving Nikola Karabatic, Samir Bellahcene and Benoît Kounkoud to rest in anticipation of the semi-final against Sweden (5:45 p.m.) in two days, the France team did the job until the end. Already qualified and assured of finishing in first place in their group, the Blues didn’t give up against Hungary. Faced with the Hungarians who absolutely needed a victory to hope to reach the last four, Guillaume Gille’s players were serious, diligent, concentrated. In short, they didn’t give up. “We wanted to build intensity from the start and our way of playing was excellent. We prepared well for our semi-final while respecting the sliding tournament” Nedim Remili on BeIn Sport.
The day before, however, this is what the Danes and the Swedes, the two qualified from the other group, did. Denmark let its match against Slovenia slip away (28-25) and Sweden poorly prepared for its semi-final against France by showing nothing good against the pale Norwegians (33-23). Victory calling for victory, the Swedes did not put this evidence into action. “We really want to finish this group stage with as many victories as possible. The French team hasn’t gotten people used to it well. It is not so easy. Five semi-finals (in a row in a major tournament), it shows that we are there all the time and now we want to go to the end. » had warned Dika Mem before the match.
With 4 players playing at Veszprem in the Hungarian championship (Kentin Mahé, Nedim Remili, Hugo Descat and Ludovic Fabregas) the French have not fallen into this trap of relaxation. The Blues had a good first half but were still too messy, they let their opponents come back just two lengths (20-18) at the break. They even let them return after returning from the locker room (21-21, 37th). And then as often since the start of the tournament, the Olympic champions took a little hit on the mushroom to get back on track and win (35-32).
Mission accomplished: after 7 matches, the Blues are still undefeated and they enter the final four with plenty of confidence. It will not be enough against the Swedes whom the Blues beat in the semi-final of the World Cup in Stockholm last year. But that’s already a lot, especially since no nasty boo-boo came to disrupt the evening. On Friday, France will approach its semi-final in full force and with confidence.
“It’s always strange to play a match that is useless from an accounting point of view,” reports Valentin Porte on BeIn Sport. We have been clear: when we play for the France team, we want to win every match. We want to be European champions and it would be even better to be so by winning every match. We played to win. » Guillaume Gille appreciated. “It was a good handball match,” insists the coach. We dominated well and the score does not reflect the nature of the game. This is the fourth time in a row that we will face Sweden. She arrives very frisky and things will heat up. But that’s what we came for. » This defeat of Hungary also qualifies Germany for the last four. The Germans will face Denmark on Friday at 8:30 p.m. The Blues will play at 5:45 p.m.
