the program of the French team in the main round

Adversity and the stakes will rise several notches for the French handball team in the main round of the World Cup, which it will begin on Tuesday in Varazdin (Croatia) against Hungary in a position of strength, the only team in its group with maximum points. The defeat of the Netherlands on Sunday against Hungary (36-32) at the end of Group D is indeed the business of the Blues: they are alone at the top of Pool II (4 pts), one length ahead of the Hungarians and two ahead the Dutch and the Austrians.

North Macedonia, which took the last ticket in Pool D by dominating Guinea (29-20), has only one point. Qatar brings up the rear without a point. A success on Tuesday (9:00 p.m.) against the Magyars and they would open the door to the quarter-finals (which the first two will see) before facing the Dutch on Thursday then two days later the Macedonians, coached by the national legend Kiril Lazarov.

After a diligent and easy first round (37-19 against Qatar, 43-19 against Kuwait and 35-27 against Austria), the opposition will however move up a notch for the French, without however They don't cross paths with candidates for the title. The Hungarians will also play almost at home in Varazdin, a town located around twenty kilometers from the border and where the French arrived early Sunday evening.

“We’re going to have fun”

“(Saturday) we experienced an atmosphere in favor of the Austrians, and this is in my opinion what we are going to have by going to Varazdin's side: Hungary will play almost at home and we also saw a full house and a supercharged atmosphere for Macedonia’s matches”declared captain Ludovic Fabregas. “We’re going to have fun”engaged Nedim Remili, who plays like Fabregas in Hungary (in Veszprem), a selection that the Blues beat (24-20) in the pool at the Olympics in August in a decisive match for qualification.

“It’s a team that plays hard, very physical”led by Szeged pivot Bence Banhidi (2.07 m), explained the center-half. The French team, however, has not met the Netherlands in competition for three years (34-24 in the main round of Euro-2022) who, “on the contrary, they have small models that go very quickly, they run in all directions”according to coach Guillaume Gille. Like pocket playmaker Luc Steins (1.73 m), a centerpiece for several years at Paris Saint-Germain, where he was joined this season by his selection teammate, left back Dani Baijens.

The shadow in the goal

“Anyway, if we want to get closer to this title, we are going to have increasingly difficult matches”underlined Remili. “It’s up to us to continue to progress to try to achieve what we want”indicated for his part Fabregas, captain of a team for which a single cloud obscured the results of the preliminary round.

He came to cover the goalkeeper position, with the withdrawal for the rest of the competition of Samir Bellahcene, injured in the right thigh on Friday, and the sprained ankle of Rémi Desbonnet during the warm-up against the Austrians. Bellahcene was replaced in the group by Chambéry goalkeeper Valentin Kieffer (0 caps), and on the field by Charles Bolzinger, who made a successful entry (7 saves at 32% success rate).

“We need him like we need Rémi. We hope that this complementarity and this relationship that they have had for several seasons in Montpellier will help us”Fabregas said. It is indeed difficult to go very far without a good pair of goalkeepers.

France's program for the main round, in Varazdin (Croatia)

Mardi

(9:00 p.m.) Hungary – France

THURSDAY

(6:00 p.m.) Netherlands – France

SATURDAY

(8:30 p.m.) France – North Macedonia