Handball: what if the Blues did not go to the Olympics?

We may laugh at the end of the year if the French handball team brings back a medal from the World Cup in Egypt (January 13-31) and the Tokyo Games (July 23-August 8).

But for the moment it is far from it and raises concerns.

It is not the pale copy made by the Blues of Guillaume Gille on Tuesday night in Serbia (27-24) that reassures.

“It was only the first match for a year in a hellish period from all points of view, defends Philippe Bana, the new president of the federation.

We must consider the France team, deprived of its soul Nikola Karabatic.

Let us beware of all hasty judgments.

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Without Karabatic who will neither be in Egypt nor in the Olympic qualifying tournament (TQO) from March 12 to 14, the new cycle of the Blues, a year after the fiasco and the 14th place at Euro 2020, starts badly.

"It's a false start, notes Jérôme Fernandez, the double Olympic champion 2008 and 2012. But let's not forget that Guillaume (Gille) even if he had been appointed for a year coached the very first match of his life on Tuesday evening. .

He could not put his paw on his group or work on the collective aspect by juggling a crazy schedule.

We will be concerned if the level of the team remains the same until the end of the month.

But not before… ”

"The absence of Karabatic will be a real concern"

A few days before the World Cup, it is therefore without any benchmarks that the double Olympic champions (2008, 2012) advance.

A situation unknown lately where the only question concerning the Blues was to know which step of the podium they were going to occupy.

Can we therefore worry about their presence at the Tokyo Games?

To validate your ticket, you will have to go through the TQO of Montpellier with Croatia, Egypt and Portugal as opponents with two tickets at stake. "The question of Olympic qualification is legitimate and I am rather worried, warns Daniel Costantini, the former world champion coach 20 years ago at Bercy.

The tournament will fall into a busy period for players with complicated opponents and the absence of Karabatic will be a real concern.

This team suffers from an abundance of goods with excellent players but no longer knows how to use them.

This was already the case at the time of Didier Dinart (

).

We can consider the World Cup as a simple step, but qualification for the Games will be fundamental.

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A potential to become dominant again in Paris 2024

Transforming the France team into a winning machine again will take time according to Jérôme Fernandez.

“The potential and the talents are there.

But the future is not necessarily 2021: I see a project that will lead the France team to be at its best in 2024 in Paris.

To become the flagship nation of handball right away while this team is being rebuilt with a change of generation does not seem reasonable to me.

"On the field, the top scorer in the history of the Blues (1463 goals) experienced a similar situation at the end of the 1990s with Guillaume Gille at his side when it was necessary to rebuild everything after the Atlanta Games in 1996 .

“This question of qualifying for the Olympics would have been good to ask a year ago in 2020, thinks Philippe Bana.

But the Covid has been there and everything is so special.

We are first in a tunnel to get out of this crisis in good conditions.

The long term is a difficult exercise.

We have a very strong history with the Games.

It is a primary objective.

But let's see how a TQO in 60 days in France will be able to be organized.

Norway is on the verge of giving up its own.

At the moment, we rather have projects to carry out to get out of this crisis rather than sporting anxieties.

"