Handball: in Aix, Usam wants to continue to believe in its future

À Aix, l'arrière droit international égyptien Abdelhak Mohab sera l'une des forces de frappe de l'Usam. MIDI LIBRE – MIKAËL ANISSET

This Friday, February 23, at 8 p.m. at the Arena in Aix, Usam Nîmes (9th, 18 points) would be well inspired to win against PAUC (8th , 18 points) in order to stay in the race for the Top 5, the objective at the start of the season.

We don't know what face Aix will reveal this Friday at home, against Usam Nîmes:  the one seen during the 33-34 defeat at home against  the last, Dijon, or the one demonstrated in the second half, last week in Limoges, overthrowing the 5th in Starligue (victory 38-35) ? We hardly know more on the face which will be proposed, on the Aix floor, by the Nîmes, left with 9 goals at the 13th, Cesson (26-35), before scattering Créteil (14th) at Parnasse& ;nbsp;(32-25), last Friday.

''Between Cesson and Créteil, it had nothing to do, explains Gard coach Yann Balmossière. Regarding the state of mind, there is no problem. Above all, the reaction must not be epidermal. But the training week was good and the players are focused on Aix.''

Balmossière: "You are 9th but at their points of 5th…"

Thirteen days before the end of the season, Usam (9th) must above all take the matches one after the other, according to the established formula. Without doing any calculations. ''I don't think in terms of place, because you are 9th but two points from 5th (Limoges and Chambéry, 20 points), observes the technician. And I would say the same thing if we were 5th with two points ahead of 9th. In addition, on this day, there are a few of us playing against each other since Saint-Raphaël (7th) hosts Chambéry (6th).''

In Aix, against a team whose extra-sporting problems (the club was sanctioned as a precautionary measure with 4 firm points and a demotion) could influence the performance, Nîmes, which will record the return of center-half Konradsson has a real stake to play. . I'm not counting on that.''

Win by taking the goal-average from the first leg

The air of Provence seems to suit Julien Rebichon and his teammates quite well, returning victorious from their last trip to PAUC (31-21) a little over a year ago.

''Already, if we finished at +1 or +2 by resuming the goal-average of the first leg (32-31 defeat during the 7th day ), that would suit me very well, notes the Green team coach. You have to stay in contact with this group of teams. We will have to take these points. Here we are talking arithmetic. But what I hope above all is that the players will reproduce in matches what they presented this week in training. ;quot;

The 16 Usamists summoned for the trip to Aix

Yann Balmossière summonedé the following group: Baznik and Demaille (l.); Rebichon, Vincent, Tobie, Dupuy, Minel, Acquevillo, Konradsson, Derisbourg, Gibernon, Mohab, Sanad, Antic, Poyet, Gallego.< /p>

Absent: Kamtchop-Baril, Sissoko (knee cruciate ligaments, seasons ended).
 

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