"
I would like to have a little rant, which rarely happens to me...
" Asked by BeIn Sports after the beautiful and clear victory of the French team over the Netherlands this Thursday (34-24), the goalkeeper of goal Vincent Gérard, accustomed to not using jargon, insisted on crying out from the heart. Worthy of the president of the association of professional handball players that he is. “
I take advantage of it now that we are winning our matches and that we have only one case, so I cannot be accused of shooting at the ambulance
,” he states by way of preamble. Before focusing on the crux of the problem during this competition: the positive cases of Covid-19. "
What value does this competition have with the Icelanders Palmarsson and Gustavsson less, to name but a few?
I don't quite understand, and there is a real problem.
It's a bit of a shame for handball what is happening, with a competition that is turning into a lottery.
We players are all afraid of testing positive and having our bags packed, which is far from pleasant.
»
An opinion shared from a distance by his former selection partner, Daniel Narcisse: “
It must be painful. I haven't experienced this health crisis as a player, so it's hard to understand how they are experiencing it. We know that injury is part of the game, but this is like Russian roulette with these two tests a day. And it's hard to be placed in solitary confinement without having any physical problem, because there are asymptomatic forms. This pressure is hard to bear psychologically and it changes a lot of things on the sporting level.
“ After Germany, which has counted up to eight positive cases and which now aligns a team which has nothing to do with the one which started the competition, it is Iceland which has been hard hit with five positive cases, including the two stars mentioned by Gerard, left-back Aron Palmarsson and number 1 goalkeeper Bjorgvin Pall Gustavsson.
Read alsoEuro handball: Faced with the cases of Covid, the boss of the Bundesliga evokes a withdrawal from the tournament
Read alsoHandball Euro: caught up in the Covid-19, the French team holds its breath
As a result, ambitious after finishing the first round in the lead with three victories, the Nordic team is likely to make up the numbers during the main round. Or at least not being able to fully defend his chances. "
What tires me is that there are players who started preparing for this competition from December 26, being very careful during the holidays, all to get here and when it starts to get serious. , being forced to stay in their room to watch the friends play
, ”denounces the French goalkeeper. "
We just have to cross our fingers and pray, for those who want to do it because it does not depend on us.
If players tested positive after going out for a drink in town, I'm not saying… But that's not the case.
Every day, we have two tests and we perform them with fear in our stomachs.
“A situation to say the least ironic in a country, Hungary, which applies almost no restrictions, as Great Britain will do next week.
Except that the EHF does not wish to show the slightest relaxation.
Even if its flagship competition turns to the Berezina on the sporting level.
