Led by four goals about twenty minutes from the end, the French handball players overthrew Croatia, to finally win 30 to 26, and open a royal road to the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer (July 23 -8 August).
Guillaume Gille's players could even validate their ticket for Tokyo on Saturday: in the event of another success for Portugal against Croatia (6.30 p.m.), after their victory on Friday against Tunisia (34-27), then the French in the evening against Tunisians, the ticket to Japan would be 100% guaranteed for both nations.
Otherwise, we will have to wait until Sunday evening.
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Michaël Guigou and the Tokyo Games:" It's going to be war to qualify "
In this extremely dense qualifying tournament, the first match was essential to avoid a weekend that was more stressful than necessary.
"It was not the decisive match", tried to qualify Melvyn Richardson after the meeting, while the French come out of this match in full euphoria.
The meeting, taken by the right end by the Blues (5-4, 14th), for the first time turned in the middle of the first period, in favor of the Croats.
The first two temporary exclusions for Luka Karabatic and Jean-Jacques Acquevillo created a breach in which Croatia was perfectly engulfed (10-7, 22nd).
Guillaume Gille, who took the head of the selection after the Euro-2020 fiasco (elimination from the first round), then changed part of his starting seven, bringing in Montpellier's Hugo Descat, Melvyn Richardson and Valentin Porte, and Parisian goalkeeper Yann Genty.
“We have a lot of alternatives, and the entry of players in the second half who had not played in the first was important.
It's positive for us to have so many possibilities, ”said the coach.
Primary gap
In the semi-final of the 2021 World Cup against Sweden, then in the match for 3rd place against Spain, the French had failed to reverse the negative trend of the first period, blunt and beaten each time by six goals (32-26 then 35-29) to finish in fourth place.
Friday, the French were still behind by four goals within twenty minutes of the end of the meeting (20-16, 40th), before starting a very good comeback under the impetus of Descat and Timothey N'Guessan, completely recovered of his groin injury during the World Cup, and Yann Genty's stoppages in French goals.
More physically present at the end of the game, the Blues even widened a significant gap which could prove essential in the event of a three-way match with two victories for the two places for Tokyo.
The entry of Yann Genty proved to be decisive, with a parade on a Croatian counter-attack three minutes from the end of the meeting which made the tricolor bench jump, while the score was 28 to 26 and could still switch to one side or the other.
Genty, "relaunch ramp"
“It was the last decisive bulwark that allowed us to regain color in the second half.
It was a pivotal moment in this match.
It served us as a launching pad, ”said Guillaume Gille after the meeting.
This victory confirms the good World Cup of the French in Egypt, during which they had dominated Sander Sagosen's Norway in the opening, and Portugal in the main round.
This reconstruction after Euro 2020 is gradually being confirmed, and can only be complete with a ticket for the Tokyo Games.
“For a few weeks or a few months, with this collective, we have been trying to grow together, to progress.
For that, you have to live through difficult times.
In this match, we also needed that, ”said captain Michaël Guigou.
The French have participated in all editions of the Olympic Games, since their emergence on the international scene in Barcelona in 1992, and have played the last three Olympic finals (gold in 2008 in Beijing and in 2012 in London, silver in 2016 in Rio ).
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