Herning (Denmark) (AFP)

Croatia in the semi-finals of a Euro or a Handball World Cup, it has been a great classic for boys for more than two decades but for girls it will be a resounding first against the French on Friday in Euro-2020.

Since the Rio Olympics in 2016, four strong nations in women's handball stand out: France, Russia, the Netherlands and Norway.

But one of these four teams has always followed the last four from the stands, whether at the Euros-2016 and 2018 or the Worlds-2017 and 2019.

During this Euro-2020, two of these top names even left prematurely: the Netherlands, crowned at the 2019 World Cup but weighed down by a failed start to competition in Denmark, and Russia, whose only defeat on Tuesday against Denmark and the The elimination resulted in the sacking of coach Ambros Martin.

There is therefore room for two guests at the feast.

Denmark are a regular, motivated by playing at home, although due to the Covid-19 pandemic there are hardly any spectators.

On the other hand, the presence of Croatia is a huge surprise: the selection with the red and white checkered jerseys has not participated in any World Championship since 2011 (7th place in Brazil) and it has only played once. the Olympics, in 2012 in London.

Worse, we had to go back to 2010 to find traces of the last Euro where the Croats had passed the first round.

So the team will not even play an Olympic qualifying tournament in March 2021 due to its recent international underperformance.

- "Be as smart as they are" -

"They are really a team that we know very little, if at all. We haven't played against them for a very long time. They scored eight points and only lost to Norway, like everyone else. for now ", underlines the French coach Olivier Krumbholz, who is wary of Croatian efficiency.

"The players are less known in the international context, but are very dangerous. It's a very unusual team, very difficult to play. They try to be very smart on the field. It's a bunch of foxes, it plays with refereeing, it keeps the ball. We will have to be as smart as them and above all very stable ", adds Krumbholz.

The 72 hours between qualification and the semi-final will not be too much to redouble the work of video analysis and prepare for the meeting.

For the Croatian handball players, the Euro-2020 announced itself under bad auspices: at the end of October, one month away from going to Denmark for the competition, their goalkeeper Ivana Kapitanovic was seriously injured with her club of Metz, victim of 'a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee.

But Tea Pijevic, who is making Fehervar's heyday in Hungary, perfectly compensated for the absence of Kapitanovic, posting impressive statistics, with 57 saves (third best total) and 38% save (4th best rate in the competition) .

During their victories against the Netherlands, Serbia or Germany on Tuesday night in a quarter-final, the Croats relied on the left-back of Metz Camila Micijevic, fourth top scorer in the tournament (30 goals to 54 % shooting success) but with a long playing time of nearly five hours, and therefore greater physical fatigue.

© 2020 AFP