The Blues will set off to storm the Paris Olympics with a brand new medal around their necks, gold or silver. This Saturday in Lodz, they brilliantly offered themselves a Nations League final by defeating Greater Poland and its 11,000 ardent supporters, at the end of a formidable 2h04′ fight (2-3: 25-22, 22-25, 23-25, 25-20, 16-18).
Three years after its 2022 triumph, the French team will try to win its fourth title in the summer competition (formerly called the World League) on Sunday (8 p.m.) in the final act against Slovenia or Japan, who face each other on Saturday at 8 p.m.
The day after their strange and stunning quarter-final against Italy (3-2 after being down two sets to one), the Blues delivered a superb performance and achieved a feat at the expense of the Poles, the reigning European champions. and supporters of this League of Nations.
While Earvin Ngapeth was still used in a homeopathic dose (calf), they were able to count on Yacine Louati, very bleeding after his failed quarter-final (21 pts at 19/37 attacks, 1 ace, 1 block), on exceptional defenses from Jenia Grebennikov and again excellent entries into play from the substitutes, Antoine Brizard passing and especially Théo Faure up front, absolutely dazzling (20/34 attacks!).
Facing an opponent who had benefited from an extra day of rest since their quarter-final against Brazil (3-1), Andrea Giani’s men started the game much better than the day before against the Italians. In difficulty against the Polish serves and the power of the left-handed pointer Bartolomiej Boladz (13/24 attacks in total), they never gave up during the first set, coming back to 23-22 after being led 23-20. But two big errors by Joris Seddik then Jean Patry gave the set to the European champions (25-22).
From 17-12 to 22-25, a stunning second set
Poland started the second set at the same tempo (9-4). But, while it seemed to be flying away at 17-12, the French raised their heads around Trévor Clévenot (14 pts at 10/22 attacks, 2 blocks, 2 aces) and Nicolas Le Goff (11 pts including 6 blocks!), author of three points in a row (19-19). As against the Italians, Ngapeth signed a crucial series in service to restore the advantage to France (20-22). Nikola Grbic, Poland’s legendary Serbian coach, was furious when Théo Faure converted the set point to equalize (22-25).
Poland had lost its momentum and its serve, and its star of Cuban origin Wilfredo Leon, out of the game (only 3 pts), joined the substitutes’ square. Faure, at 24 years old, was still there to sink the men in red in the middle of the third set (14-17). Despite an ace at 132 km/h from Norbert Huber (18 pts), Yacine Louati succeeded in a key counter and attack, before a “pipe” (attack at 3 meters) from Trévor Clévenot to win the set (23-25).
A French gap in the fourth set revived the Poles (19-13). Despite a new surge from Louati (19-16), the European champions offered themselves a tie-break (25-20).
7
It was the seventh time in 14 matches in this Nations League that the Blues found themselves playing a fifth set. And the extended matches are clearly working for them since they have now won five.
This last round was going to be completely crazy. Refocused, the Blues started off ideally with a counter from Trévor Clévenot (2-4). Things seemed to go wrong when a superb attack from Antoine Brizard was invalidated by the video for a tiny but very real net fault (8-6). At 12-9, Poland was heading towards the final, when Théo Faure took out his Superman cape.
A very, very Faure tie-break
The son of the great Stéphane Faure pulled out two big serves, resulting in blocks from Clévenot and Le Goff, and France came back to 12-12. His attacks erased two Polish match points at 14-13 and 15-14. An ace from Antoine Brizard reversed the balance of power (15-16). After missing a first match point, Faure offered a second to the Blues. The point player converted it himself after yet another defense from Grebennikov (16-18), triggering a crazy sarabande. On its bench too, France has incredible talent that gives it all the hopes it needs this summer.
