"She has an arm of fire," said the tricolor pivot Astride N'Gouan. But we will have to stop him. " She ? It's Ana Gros, 27 years old, 1.86 m tall. His overpowered left arm could be the nightmare of Les Bleues this Sunday.

This is the Slovenian first strength, even if the French coach Olivier Krumbholz tempers. "It's not just Ana Gros in Slovenia. They have excellent players. It's a team that has made a lot of progress. " Perhaps, but offensively, as a shoot, Ana Gros is perhaps the best on the planet handball. The best at his job? Not for Estelle Nze Minko: "I do not think so. She has an extraordinary arm, but she does not defend. Me, I like the players who do both. "

This "extraordinary arm" , the young pivot of the French team, Pauletta Foppa, discovered him when he arrived in Brest, where Gros has been playing since this summer. "The first time I saw her play, when girls hit her, she still managed to mark the backstop. There, I thought, "Yeah, okay! »» .

We'll have to settle the Big case this afternoon. The blue side advantage is that between the seven Messines (Gros played four years in Lorraine) and the three Brestoises, there are people to be able to floor on the record. "She hates being touched, it annoys her, so I will try to touch her as much as possible," Orlane Kanor smiles.

Since the beginning of the season, it has a lot of room before this game in training in Brest. Allison Pineau will find herself defending on her team mate. "It's great, we'll be able to play again after, laughs the back / half center French. How are we going to manage Ana Gros? I will not declare it because it is likely to read it (laughs). But I see what she does everyday when she trains, her range of shots, the way she plays. Of course, it helps a lot. "

'France-Slovenia, a clasico'

Ana Gros also smiles at this confrontation that happens. "Allison? With our success against France last year, I told him that France - Slovenia, it became a clasico and we would beat them again .

France is the adopted country of Ana Gros. And she is almost at home in Nancy, close to Metz, where she was revealed, where she bloomed for four years. She explains: "I was playing in Thüringer (Germany) and I did not feel well. I was not trusted. Metz was looking for a right-back mid-season (January 2014). And since I had nothing to lose, as I did not play at Thüringer, I went there. I have never regretted this choice. Metz gave me a lot.

The one who migrated this summer to the BBH, the ambitious club of Pointe du Finistère, knows that she still has a sector to work: defense. "When I was younger, I was not trusted in defense. So, this characteristic has remained. But in Brest, with Laurent (Bezeau, the coach), we work on it. I want to help the defense team, even ten minutes per game ... "

In Slovenian selection too, that's all for the attack. "I am alone at my post. And the coach does not want me to tire in defense . Because she is so precious in attack.