Always placed, never winning when it came to keeping the cage of the French handball team, Wesley Pardin finally had his chance Thursday against Norway (28-24) and seized it, ideally launching the Blues in the Egyptian World Cup.
"Obviously, when you have a goalie like that who plays games like that, everything becomes easier."
Boss of a defense that has become intractable again, Luka Karabatic congratulates in his own way the Martinican with long dreadlocks, elected man of the match after his 18 saves on 40 Norwegian shots, a fantastic rate of 45%.
A suprise ?
Not really for those who follow the Starligue where he was voted best player of the month for December.
In four meetings with Aix-en-Provence, Pardin has never gone below 15 stops.
"I prepared as if it was a club match, with my style of play, with a lot of speed, resentment, aggression."
Wesley Pardin
However, when the eternal reservist learned, "just before the warm-up", that he would begin the shock of the first round against the Norwegian star Sander Sagosen, he initially believed it was a mistake.
“I focused on being efficient from the start and it worked,” he explains with a big smile, and without putting pressure on himself.
"I prepared as if it was a club match, with my style of play, with a lot of speed, resentment, aggression."
Summoned with Vincent Gérard and Yann Genty to leave for Egypt, Pardin won the right to play his first match in a World Cup, and not least, after scoring points during the trip to Serbia (27-24), ten days earlier .
"Our desire to see Wesley start (is explained) by the impression he left us on the last streaks, on the end of the match he had delivered in Serbia", explains the new coach Guillaume Gille whose individual bet proved to be a winner.
"The dynamic on which Wesley was, for us, deserved to give him the opportunity to start this first meeting."
Finally, could say at 31 years the former goalkeeper of Toulouse, landed in metropolitan France at the age of 16 years.
If his career with the Blues began in 2013 at the time of Claude Onesta, there has never been the great role, helmed by Thierry Omeyer, Cyril Dumoulin and Vincent Gérard.
Successor of Onesta, Didier Dinart took three years to offer him a new selection in 2019. In the meantime, the Antillean left Toulouse for Provence, lost pounds (105 for 1.95 m) and became more and more regular in its performance.
Gérard remains number 1
That of Thursday is therefore "in the continuity of what he has been doing in Aix for almost two seasons, he has performed quite incredible", believes the captain of the Blues Michaël Guigou.
“With Nîmes, we unfortunately tasted his performance, he made more than 50% (saves) and we took more than 10 goals in Aix.
He's in great shape right now. ”
To the point of being qualified, after only 20 selections, as part of "the great international goalkeepers", advance Luka Karabatic.
To the point of taking the place of N.1 in Vincent Gérard for the rest of the World Cup?
Negative, answers Gille.
If "no position is definitively assigned to someone, Vincent, in view of his performances in his last competitions, remains the reference of this collective on this post of goalkeeper.
Our desire, at the start of the competition, was to launch Wesley.
This does not bode well for the rest of the competition, or for an upheaval of positions or status. "
It's up to Pardin to make him change his mind.
From this Saturday against Austria (6:00 p.m.)?
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2021 World Calendar and Results
