Rough landing for the Blues. The French handball players were defeated (23-29) by Germany, Friday December 12, in Rotterdam (Netherlands), in the semi-finals of the World Cup. Their second defeat in a row at this stage in a major competition – they were eliminated by Denmark on the verge of the Euro final a year ago.
There will still be a third place and a bronze medal to be won on Sunday against the host selection: the Netherlands. The Blues will try to take their revenge on a team which inflicted their first setback of the tournament (26-23) on Monday in the group stage. And the matter promises to be far from simple as the Oranje team resembles their tormentor from Friday: tall, fast, powerful players with a simple but extremely physical game.
Considerably rejuvenated, the Dutch team like that of Germany has been making progress for several years and they dream of regaining their past glory. Under the direction of Frenchman Emmanuel Mayonnade, the former were world champions in 2019. The latter – of whom the country can boast of having invented the discipline -, winners of the 1993 World Cup, had to wait eighteen years before returning to the last four of the competition.
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