An aberration.
From this Thursday, just four days after the World Cup final won by Denmark and the match for 3rd place which escaped France against Spain, most of the internationals are already preparing to play again.
And not just any meeting, since it will be the Champions League, with high stakes.
“It's just insane.
We will have to take stock of injuries at the end of the season, ”said Vincent Gérard, goalkeeper of Paris SG and president of the Association of professional handball players.
The French internationals played eleven matches in January with the selection and leave in February at a comparable pace in clubs.
"We wonder where we are going, and in what state we will end up," he adds.
"We have to stop doing anything if we don't want too many guys farting, and unfortunately this has been the case since the start of the season"
Michael guigou
The next 28 days will be particularly dense for the clubs involved in the European Cups, between the matches of the Championship and the Champions League or European League: eight for Nîmes and Toulouse, nine for Paris SG and Montpellier and ten for Nantes, which resumes Thursday at home against the Slovenes of Celje in C1.
And sometimes, sequences of several meetings in a very short time: Montpellier will play twice in 24 hours in Moscow (9 and 10), PSG will play three matches (including two trips) in six days at the end of February (from 23 to 28) , and Nantes will have to step on the field four times in six days (between the 21st and the 26th).
Concerns for the health of players are shared by Michaël Guigou.
"We have to stop doing anything if we want there to be too many guys farting, and unfortunately this has been the case since the start of the season", regretted after the World Cup captain of the France team, on track with Nîmes on Friday in the Starligue at Chartres.
The consequences of Covid-19, too
“It's an economically complicated year, everyone is aware of it.
But at one point, you don't have to do anything, everyone has to be reasonable, ”added the mixed zone winger in Cairo, after the match for third place lost to Spain.
These infernal rates had been denounced almost two years ago by the greatest handball players, in the campaign “Don't play with the players” (Do not play with the health of the players).
With the Covid-19 pandemic, many clubs (French and European) have been affected, forcing cascading postponements and creating a traffic jam of matches to be rescheduled.
“The pace is intensifying, we have to squeeze the matches somewhere.
This intensity in two months, it has never happened to me, ”said Gérard, who will have until Saturday to prepare to resume in Hungary, Szeged, in the Champions League.
"We are so lucky to do our job, when so many people cannot work, that we would be grudging to complain"
Patrice Canayer
“From the start, we knew that we had to show flexibility, adaptability and flexibility for the players, in order to be able to carry out the competitions to the maximum.
The players have shown a great sense of responsibility, ”notes Gérard, aware of being in a“ very special ”period.
“We are in an extraordinary and delicate period.
We do things we do not usually do, but we have to accept it, ”said Patrice Canayer, Montpellier coach.
“We are so lucky to do our job, when so many people cannot work, that we would be grudging to complain,” adds the Montpellier technician.
"We are lucky, and we are aware of it, to be able to practice our sport", agrees with this Vincent Gérard.
"But at what price and under what condition", he wonders.
Especially for the French internationals who will be playing an extremely important Olympic qualifying tournament from March.
And for what a show, too, if several stars are injured and the players, exhausted or diminished, are not able.
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