Euro 2024 handball: the Blues reassure themselves by bringing down the German host
|Kentin Mahé a été précieux dans l'exercice des jets de 7 mètres. MAXPPP – FILIP SINGER
Mise au point faite: les handballeurs français ont retrouvé leurs standards de champions olympiques et vice-champions du monde en dominant l'Allemagne (33-30) devant son public et dans son Euro mardi à Berlin.
The blur that appeared during the draw against Switzerland (26-26) two days earlier ? Forgotten. Although Andreas Wolff multiplied in the German cages (16 saves, 36%), he only delayed the deadline for a moment.
Nikola Karabatic (4 goals and 2 assists), seen for barely more than six minutes on the pitch on Sunday, recalled why Guillaume Gille continued to place his trust in him, having been elected man of the match at almost forty years old. And the other left back of the rotation, Elohim Prandi, his teammate at Paris Saint-Germain known as «the buffalo», did not mismatch (4 goals) by alternating powerful shots and a roucoulette who folded the match (32-29).
🤾♂️ #EHFEuro2024
🇫🇷🇩🇪 Nikola Karabatic : "On ne va pas trop s'enflammer, le chemin est encore très long"#HandAction #FRAALL pic.twitter.com/Vh7NjC6PaQ— beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) January 16, 2024
If it was not yet a decisive match, it was one of those who counted with two precious points to gain for the main round. The draw spared the Blues who will meet Croatia, Iceland, Austria and Hungary in order. While the heavyweights of European handball are concentrated in the other group: whether the Danish world champions, the Swedish title holders or the Norwegians.
In search of a fourth title
So many competitors who will have seen serious competitors in the Blues. Of those who don't bat an eyelid when they are down 3-0 from the start, or when they concede a 3-0 putting the Germans in front for a long time at the start of the last quarter of the game. ;#39;hour (25-25, 48th).
All in front of nearly 14,000 spectators, almost all of them supporters of the Nationalmannschaft and causing an uproar every time one of their number shook the nets or the referee made a decision not in their sense. A deluge of decibels to rival the sound of the speakers of neighboring nightlife establishments on the East Side.
In Cologne, which they are due to reach on Tuesday, the French Olympic champions and vice-world champions will be looking across the Rhine for a fourth European coronation, ten years after the last , at the dawn of an Olympic year with the Paris-2024 Olympic Games.