JO: Bahrain, early in the morning… The unexpected ambush that French handball players are wary of

The perfect trap or the royal road? A priori, for the France team, the tipping point would clearly lean towards the second option before this quarter-final against Bahrain. The surprise guest of this Olympic roller coaster. Only 21st in the last World Cup, Bahrain won only one match in the group stage, the one it needed against the host country, Japan (32-30). Nevertheless, the Persian Gulf team had offered good resistance to European nations of the caliber of Sweden (31-32) and Portugal (25-26). What the French coach, Guillaume Gille, noted to try to protect his troops from any unwelcome excess of confidence. "

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Qualities sufficient to thwart blue ambitions? A priori, asking the question is tantamount to answering it concerning a formation which also lost by ten goals against Denmark and Egypt. Proof that, when pushed, it can lose its means in large widths. Moreover, Valentin Porte hinted, coming out of a harmless defeat against Norway on the last day (29-32), that his team had the key to “

While warning that Bahrain had a good coach, Icelandic Aron Krisjansson, and a potentially disruptive defense. Opinion shared by Nikola Karabatic who added: "

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The last France-Bahrain, 41-17 for the Blues

A preparation that will not be able to rely on any liabilities between the two teams, Bahrain having challenged France only once in its history, for a very large punishment (41-17) in 2011, during from the group stage of the World Championship. In other words, another era for the Middle Eastern team which has since progressed a lot. Nevertheless, that should probably not be enough against very attractive Frenchmen in their first four matches at Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo. Especially during the reference match against the Spaniards (36-31). It remains to manage for Guillaume Gille the very early morning schedule of this quarter-final (9:30 am local) and the replacement of Timothey N'Guessan, once again injured during a great competition and who must give way to Romain Lagarde.