No more appetizers, even if the last one against Switzerland (26-26) was indigestible. The France team is attacking serious things in its Euro. This Tuesday, January 16 (20:30 p.m., BeIN Sports and TFX) Germany will take place in Berlin, not a walk in the park to finish the first round.
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Sunday's draw against the Swiss dampened the mood, but for the moment it is of no consequence. Barring a catastrophe, the France team will qualify for the next round, even in case of defeat. Compared to the Swiss who face North Macedonia a little earlier, the French have a goal-average that protects them from premature elimination: +10 for Les Bleus, -13 for the "Nati". To get out of the tournament, the Olympic champions would have to take a monumental beating against the Germans and the Swiss would have to beat the Macedonians, both highly unlikely scenarios. If the Swiss lose to Macedonia, qualification will even be in the bag before kick-off.
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— Handball France Teams (@FRAHandball) January 16, 2024
On paper, France can lose to Germany but you should not do it. A defeat would put a damper on their chances of qualifying for the finals. The points won in the first round against the other team that came out of the pool will count towards the main round which will bring together 6 teams. The two qualified teams from Group A, France and Germany, will cross with those from Group B (Croatia, Austria or Spain) and Group C (Hungary and Iceland). The top two finishers in this round will advance to the semi-finals.
This second round will start in Cologne on Thursday and in case of defeat, France would arrive on the starting line with 0 points when Germany and others would have 2. They will have to fight with the Croatians or the Spaniards (who also have one win and one draw each at this stage) to snatch the ticket for the last four without room for error for the next four games. Les Bleus like it but they will play the rest of the Euros with pressure on their shoulders and the risk of meeting Denmark in the semi-finals.
If they win against Germany, on the other hand, the match against the Swiss will be nothing more than a forgotten incident. France will arrive on the banks of the Rhine in a position of strength. Even though the Franco-German duel will be played in the German capital, Les Bleus start with a psychological advantage. They haven't lost to Germany in 10 years. The last meeting between the two nations was in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup and a 35-28 French victory.
"Overall, the German team is similar to the one we faced last year," said Érick Mathé, assistant coach of Les Bleus. This team is stable in what it offers and it benefits from an additional enthusiasm by playing this Euro at home. The defence is compact and solid in front of their goalkeeper Andreas Wolff who had a very good game against Switzerland. But he was much less effective against North Macedonia. He may be keen to be at the rendezvous against the team of France. With the series of defeats against us, I think the Germans' aggressiveness will rise even higher: they think it might be time. It's up to us to show that our performance against Switzerland wasn't our true face. Because if we're talking about Germany, we also have to look outside our door and imagine how our team behaved on Tuesday night. »