Volleyball at the Paris 2024 Olympics: France qualifies for the semi-finals after a crazy comeback against Germany

Superbe Bleus. EPA – DANIEL IRUNGU

The French volleyball team made an exceptional comeback to finally win against Germany (3-2), Monday August 5 in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, while it will face Italy in the semi-finals on Wednesday (4 p.m.).

“It was a fight. There are no easy matches anymore. “There will be nothing but fights from start to finish”, commented Earvin Ngapeth, after the 17-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-21, 15-13 victory won in an Arena Paris Sud that was initially in slow combustion but ended in fusion.

It must be said that these Blues are rowing, digging in, floundering, disconcerting, sometimes even despairing. But they have resources, for the moment inexhaustible in these Paris Games, like the substitute and former Montpellier player Théo Faure, who came to save the country off the bench.

Having come to give weight and points (11 including two blocks and an ace) to the French attack long in decline, the 24-year-old point guard was the detonating – and decisive – element of the French comeback, which we will describe as heroic rather than fantastic, as the victory was laborious and the German adversity formidable.

Mental of steel

Further proof that these Blues also have a steely mentality, champions even that they are for at least one more match in these Paris Games, with this ability not to panic even when everything or almost everything is going wrong, even when a huge disappointment hangs over their heads.

Because that was the scenario that took shape for almost three sets, as the German attack was so dominant, carried out by its colossus Gyorgy Grozer (22 pts), so strong in the shoulders and arms that he cut the sleeves off the national jersey.

Nothing seemed to fail in the Mannschaft machine: the bloc/defense alliance knew how to read the French combinations in an open book, especially those with Earvin Ngapeth at the conclusion. The star of the Blues thought he had equalized in the second set, with two huge plays including an acrobatic defensive save, but that devil Grozer fired the ace to lead 2-0 right on his sideboard.

“We played a real team game”

Until the comeback begins. With Faure, but also another substitute Quentin Jouffroy to solidify the wall, Trévor Clévenot with his hand that has become heavy again (20 pts), Barthélémy Chinenyeze with his hand that has become firm again (4 blocks).

“Everyone is important, we are really a group. We played a real team game”, congratulated Ngapeth, who seems to like nothing better than when things get hot and who ended up piercing everything, in strength as in finesse (21 pts, best French scorer). Her little left hand in the mailbox, looked like a “beach volleyball” hug, like at the beach, followed by a hip sway to go for a dip.

Big piece to come in the semi-final

All that was missing was the sunglasses to show off. Time to finally finish, in a hurry on a final German service that was too long and made all these great French people collapse and capsize the public, in a trance.

We will have to quickly recover from these emotions, because now a much bigger piece looms in the semi-final, with the ambitious Italy led by the star Alessandro Michieletto.

But like the Blues, the Italians went through all the states before also overthrowing the Japanese, even saving four match points. Two favorites, reprieved, returned from hell. It promises to go to the final…