Tokyo Olympics: what if we had found the Experts, “almost perfect” since the start of the tournament?

And if they had played “Back to the future” to us, had they gone to seek their virtues from the past in order to (re) build a golden future? It is still a little early, no doubt, to draw definitive conclusions from the impressive success (37-31) gleaned by the French handball team against Spain this Friday at Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo. It is not too late, however, to note that it has been years, at least since Euro 2018 in Croatia, that an exit from the Blues of Nikola Karabatic was no longer accompanied by such a demonstration of strength. In canes from their entry into contention against Argentina, Guillaume Gille's troops have not only gleaned their fourth success in the competition after those against Brazil and Germany. By leaving the double Iberian European champion six lengths behind,Above all, they confirmed their incredible rise to power and opened the door wide to the very precious first place in Group A.

“We are happy, very happy, agrees the hard-hitting Nedim Remili.

We had a near-perfect match, almost like every time since we've been here.

We sometimes have small shots less well, sometimes we still fish and let our opponents reduce the gap a little.

But we are very solid, when we decide to accelerate, we take control.

"

A bit like the Experts and their successors knew how to do in the days of their splendor.

Less, much less these Blues appeared in loss of reference for a year and a half.

"But we worked well," smiles Luc Abalo.

The coaches had a difficult job, they did their best to fill the void, brought something new and we buy into the project.

We grew up, learned from our failures.

"

"It would be treacherous to believe that we have arrived"

But like the basketball players at the end of their inaugural success against the United States, no excess of joy has found its place on the floor, confirming before the time the speeches in the mixed zone revealing that everyone keeps the cool head. “We have to stay humble,” continues Abalo. With fatigue, we had more success than them today. But this match, we do it again in 1/4 or 1/2, it's not the same at all. It would be treacherous to believe that we have arrived because we have neither won by a small goal, nor in suffering. We must not make the mistake of believing that we have gained momentum and that we do not need to go higher. We must stay focused and continue on this path. "

A speech relayed by goalkeeper Vincent Gérard, also in great shape on the field and in front of the microphones. “I remind you that we only played four games, that we have two left, I hope four, smiles the PSG goalkeeper to support only the last group game and the quarter are for the moment acquired. We only did halfway. There, we just have the accreditation around the neck, not yet the medal. "

The only certainty for the time of the Tricolores is to win one of the first two places in group A and to avoid Denmark and Sweden, the two big pieces opposite, in the quarters. However, it remains to finish the job on Sunday against Norway to seal the first place in the group and facilitate access to the last four. This will require keeping the pace and making another blue demo, a demo that cannot be done with the eyes.