Funny place for a World Cup in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Twenty-two years after coming there for the first time in 1999, international handball landed its caravan in the land of the Pharaohs to compete in a strange World Championship.
It begins this Wednesday with an exotic Egypt - Chile.
In addition to its unusual destination in a country which has the advantage of being that of the president of the international federation, Hassan Moustafa, this 2021 World Cup is one of all uncertainties: "We do not know where we are going and we do not know in what we set foot.
It's going to be a very special competition, a leap into the unknown, ”warns the Blues goalkeeper, Vincent Gérard.
The goalkeeper of the PSG does not speak only of the sporting situation of a fragile team of France in reconstruction.
It evokes the context of a tournament under a sanitary bubble.
The Blues will not visit the pyramids
The Blues landed in Cairo early this afternoon on Tuesday before their match against Norway on Thursday evening.
They were immediately put in the mood for what to expect: a PCR test before leaving the airport, a coach transfer to the hotel and another test on their arrival at the establishment at case where they have contracted the Covid during the journey.
“We are used to this kind of protocol, admits Romain Lagarde.
We are lucky to be able to practice our sport.
So, we can't complain.
"
Then?
Formal ban on leaving the hotel except to go to training or matches.
Interactions with the outside world are prohibited.
The Blues will only see the pyramids behind the window of a bus.
“We were already in our bubble in France for ten days, agrees Vincent Gérard.
It's the same in Cairo except that we do not know if we will have the same comfort as in Créteil.
"
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The 32 teams from the field - a first in the history of a World Cup which had counted 24 until then - are gathered in four hotels in the Egyptian capital closed to the outside world.
The media that made the trip are extremely rare and cannot approach it.
This Mondial is under high tension.
His biggest victory will be to go to the end, without a false note.
“To be able to maintain such competition in this moment that the planet is going through may seem crazy, admits new coach Guillaume Gille.
It is also a tremendous success.
We will evolve in a complex health bubble but I am convinced that everything will be done to keep it intact.
Keeping it tightly closed until the final on January 31, however, seems a difficult challenge.
18 positive cases in the United States workforce
Three days before the opening, under pressure from the teams, the Egyptian authorities gave up welcoming the public: 20% of the capacity of the four halls of the competition was envisaged.
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Stars like PSG Dane Mikkel Hansen have threatened not to come for fear of the virus.
Germans made themselves portray pale and stayed at home.
Sweden and the Czech Republic have positive cases of concern.
The United States, future opponents of the Blues, discovered this Tuesday 18 positive cases in their workforce.
They are threatened with a general package.
And the World Cup has not yet started ...