the Blues get off to a strong start in the main round against Hungary

Hungary: 30
France : 37

The French handball team began the main round of the World Cup as it had finished the previous one: with a big victory. This Tuesday, January 21 in Varazdin (Croatia), she dominated Hungary, achieving a success which already opens the door to the quarter-finals. A draw on Thursday against the Netherlands will be enough to validate the ticket for the quarter-finals, even before the last match against North Macedonia.

Beyond the step forward in terms of accounting, the Blues generally produced a demonstration of strength, moving up a notch compared to their three quiet victories acquired in the preliminary round (37-19 against Qatar, 43-19 against Kuwait and 35-27 against Austria).

The risky and losing bet of the Hungarians

The adversity was greater, but the France team stifled it. There was no match, started with fanfare by Guillaume Gille’s players (8-3, 9^e), which punished the Hungarians’ strategic choice to attack seven against six, without a goalkeeper. A risky and losing bet in the face of the numerous balls recovered thanks to the saves of Rémi Desbonnet (8/23 at half-time), who even scored in the empty goal, and the very aggressive defense around Karl Konan.

The Hungarians, however, tried again at the start of the second half, to try to make up the deficit (23-15 at half-time). For an identical result (28-17, 39^e) which offered a very comfortable lead to the Blues, who then relaxed their grip a little (31-25, 46^e).

They were then able to count on a valuable save from Desbonnet, who saved a -5 ball at point blank range (47^e). And three minutes later, they were back in the lead (33-25).

The replacements were able to shine

Very solid in defense, where it notably forced the Hungarians to take complicated shots, the French team also delivered an often sparkling performance in attack. The duo composed of Nedim Remili and Dika Mem (respectively 5 and 6 goals in total) hovered over the first period, like this marvel of blind pass behind the first, after having fixed a defender, for the second ( 9-4, 10^e).

The substitutes also stood out, such as Niortais Nicolas Tournat (3 goals), Aymeric Minne (4) and Melvyn Richardson (5). In short, a full match and plenty of points.