Blue, how to say, everything is blue!
Not a shower, not a downpour, not even a cloud.
The sun is shining on the French team sports teams and it gives everyone a good look, necessarily also to Olivier Krumbholz's troops.
Not always convincing, sometimes even worrying in the group stage, the players of the France team have resumed colors this Wednesday evening in Tokyo.
For their first chopper of the competition, the most tricky since sanctioned by an empty return in the event of a setback, they, like a hurricane, swept away the past and the Dutch team, the reigning world champion.
A burst of fire
Two years after winning their first planetary crown here in Japan, the Oranje hardly existed in this quarter-final that the French almost bent in the first quarter of an hour, thanks to an iron defense and a Leynaud of fire.
For her fourth and last Games, the tricolor goalkeeper has undoubtedly delivered one of her biggest matches in the selection, if not the biggest, and took in the wake all her partners to their second Olympic semi-final. 'in a row.
She closed the doors (and opened the half doors) đ«đ·
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Amandine LEYNAUD đ #BleuetFier # Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/htD8XYDIHe
- French Handball Teams (@FRAHandball) August 4, 2021
âWe really did not expect to start like this, laughs Laura Flippes in a breath of fresh air. But this time, we put the entry character. We know that our worst enemy is us, that we are capable of doing beautiful things but also of tripping over the carpet on our own. I think we needed to find each other. There, we can say that the France team is back. "
If perfection exists, the French have indeed been familiar with it during the entire first quarter of this quarter (14-4, 10th), logically allowing themselves not to always combine the result with more than perfect.
"The problem with us is that we are able to lead by + 10 but also to be taken back 10 goals in advance", smiles the young Pauletta Foppa from the top of her 20 years.
But nothing serious this time.
Failing to have been able to trigger lightning, the Batavians failed to deprive their opponents of a reunion with Sweden on Friday in half (10 hours in France) and to spoil this evening which had started on a funny sign of fate.
The strength of collectives
âWhen we left the Olympic Village, we met the basketball players who were taking the bus to play their quarterback against Spain,â smiles Laura Flippes.
We encouraged each other on both sides of the road by saying, âCome on girls, we're taking all the sports to the semi-finals.
"When we met the basketball guys during the day, I told myself that we were still quite in co sports this year", continues Amandine Leynaud with a smile.
Teamwork.
#olympics pic.twitter.com/Vo7UAkSlS0
- Mary Patrux (@MaryPatrux) August 4, 2021
Still had to do the job. âBecause we knew that the three men's teams (volleyball, hand, basketball) were in the half, recalls Olivier Krumbholz. In the afternoon, I said to myself that it would be a shame if the girls (Editor's note: hand and basketball) did not qualify and that we still hear that they are behind the boys. But this is not the case and what is fantastic is that I have the feeling that the 5 teams will have their say! "
