TOPS
Michaël Guigou, captain courage
A captain never leaves his ship when it sinks.
On the contrary, it helps it to stay afloat.
As such, Michaël Guigou was an extraordinary captain this Wednesday.
In the first period, while Hungary was walking, the left winger took responsibility and achieved a magnificent performance with a 6 out of 6 on shots which contrasted with the many failures of his partners.
Without him, France would undoubtedly have been more than six goals behind and above all, it would have sunk body and soul.
Surprisingly, Guigou then no longer returned to the field but as Hugo Descat took over perfectly, this left winger position was a big strength for the Blues to extricate themselves from the Hungarian trap.
Blues kings of suspense
The clear and flawless victory against Portugal will undoubtedly remain as an exception during this World Cup (32-23), where each match will have been a suffering.
But that will rhyme each time with deliverance.
Seven matches, seven victories, the Blues have achieved a perfect course so far, with an impressive mastery of the end of the match.
Just denied on this quarter by the final 3-0 of the Hungarians which allowed them to snatch the extension (30-30).
But during the second period of extra time, the French regained their composure to manage the last three minutes perfectly and avoid a final thrill.
With such mental strength - oh so essential to recover from a catastrophic start to the match - the Blues can dream of going to the end in this World Cup ...
Roland Mikler, a long impassable wall
13 saves in the first period, for a total of 16 in the end.
If the Hungarian goalkeeper will not have managed to influence the extension, he will however have splashed all his talent the first act.
During which alone he could have eliminated the Blues.
At 36, Pick Szeged's goalkeeper has nice scraps and has demonstrated it, turning this quarter-final into a nightmare for the blue-backs.
With 10 saves on 16 shots from nine meters, so a superb 63% success, Mikler will have extinguished fireworks such as Dika Mem or Timothey N'Guessan.
His only weakness: shots from six meters and from the wings, where he managed only one save in 14 French attempts.
FLOPS
The disastrous first quarter of an hour
The first quarter of an hour of this quarter-final brought back bad memories.
That in particular of the match against Algeria at the start of the main round, when the Blues had completely foiled.
What they unfortunately reproduced.
Checked by the Hungarian goalkeeper (see above), the French full-backs lived fifteen minutes in hell, with a 1 in 11 shooting very poor at this level of the competition.
The whole matched with several losses of ball, hesitations in the transmissions, a defense much too lax on the pivot and the half-center Maté Lékai, who had however clearly been identified as the danger number 1….
France could never have recovered from this initial 9-3 which raised fears of the worst.
Fortunately, mentally, she did not give in ...
Kentin Mahé, the day without
Since the start of the competition, Kentin Mahé has often been the one to shed light on the French game, both efficient scorer and clear-sighted passer.
Nevertheless, on certain passages, short in time, it happened that the half-center did too much.
It is unfortunately this bad face that he displayed this Wednesday during the first ten minutes when he will have missed everything.
Namely a shot and two lost balls, plus bad strategic choices.
A mismanagement that Guillaume Gille sanctioned by a return to the bench, from which he was only going to leave an extension to make a throw of seven meters.
His only goal of the match.
But probably not his last in the competition, he who must have been stung in his pride, which could be seen against the Swedes in the semi ...
N'Guessan and Karabatic injuries
"We paid a heavy price on this quarter-final…."
Without yet knowing the severity of their injuries, Guillaume Gille did not fail to regret the injuries that deprived him of Timothey N'Guessan and Luka Karabatic at the end of the match.
For the first, the blow is all the harsher since he had already missed four matches for a muscle glitch in the adductors, which could well have woken up.
It's hard to be optimistic about his chances of seeing him play again in Egypt, which should propel Jean-Jacques Acquevillo back to the forefront.
For Karabatic, it is more difficult to decide, knowing that the coach has no pivot in reserve, but could give more playing time to Nicolas Tournat so far impeccable, and suddenly call on another rear ( Nicolas Claire?)….
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2021 World Calendar and Results
