Paris (AFP)

The mountain was much too high: against the Poles, double world champions in title, the French volleyball players have declined significantly and will most likely go through a final continental tournament in January to compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

The Blues are no longer masters of their destiny in Gdansk to win the only ticket to Japan in July 2020 distributed in the north of Poland: they will first beat Tunisia Sunday (12:00), without giving up any set.

Then, it will be necessary to count on a victory of the Slovenes 3 sets to 0 against Poland (15:00), then to leave the calculators and to see the ratio points which of France, Poland or Slovenia ends in front and validates the ticket for Tokyo.

On the other hand, a set scored by Poland, on excellent dynamics and with the support of its supporters, and the suspense will end in favor of the hosts.

In the event of failure, the French will have to play a last tournament bringing together the eight best European nations not yet qualified, with a single ticket at stake in January.

A complicated obstacle course, for a fifth qualification under the Rings after Seoul-1988, Barcelona-1992, Athens-2004 and Rio-2016.

"It will be three, four or five matches of this level, so it will cling," said the French coach Laurent Tillie after the meeting.

In Gdansk on Saturday, Earvin Ngapeth's teammates faced the biggest challenge they had been facing for years: facing the reigning world champions (2014 and 2018), on their lands and reinforced by the presence of the naturalized Cuban, Wilfredo Leon, considered the best player in the world.

- "Widely below them" -

They were dominated fairly quickly in the summit meeting, under pressure from the Polish public and the 15,000 fans massed in the Gdansk Arena.

"They are powerful, they are technical, that's what we missed a little today, we had problems in all sectors, it's a shame," said the coach tricolor, in mixed zone.

"With two or three more points, we can put some doubts but we never managed to express themselves.They really choked us," added Laurent Tillie.

Power and variety in services and attacks, including Michal Kubiak (11 points) or Leon (17), the height of the Polish bloc (12 points), the reception too approximate French: all compartments of the game have turned in favor of Vital Heynen's players.

"We're a little disappointed, it was a complicated match for us, they put a lot of pressure on us in the block, we could not find solutions," said the Blues libero, Jena Grebennikov in mixed zone.

After the match against Tunisia on Sunday, the Blues will immediately switch to Euro-2019 mode, non-qualifying for Tokyo-2020, from 12 to 29 September in Montpellier, Nantes and Paris, a crucial meeting for French volleyball at home. And go get a second continental title after the coronation in 2015 in Sofia.

"It will be necessary to analyze, so far we are far below them and their level.If we want to perform at the Euro, we will have to increase our level of play, because teams like those, there will be at the Euro, "warned the smuggler of the French, Benjamin Toniutti.

© 2019 AFP