Giza (Egypt) (AFP)

The French men's handball team "wants to have fun" during the World Cup in Egypt after having "suffered" in 2020, with the early elimination at the Euro and the pandemic, captain Michaël Guigou said on Friday. the day after a resounding success against Norway (28-24).

The Blues will advance to the main round on Saturday if they beat Austria.

Q: Is it a wind of revolt that pushed you against Norway?

A: "It's a match that was important. After Serbia (defeat and draw a week before in qualifying for Euro-2022, Editor's note), we were not proud of what we were doing, of what 'we gave onto the field, we wanted to do better. It's a match on which we will rely, which shows the reality of our game. We work every day, we question ourselves. We know that for to go further, we will have to work but keeping this state of mind, it should go well. "

Q: You are the new captain of this team.

How did you take on this role?

What type of captain are you?

A: "It is above all the state of mind of the team that needed to be reinforced, we had to keep confidence in ourselves, in our strengths, in our individualities. We suffered last year from all that and it was important that we find this team spirit and that's what we had yesterday.I also focus a lot on that to help the players to have confidence in what we want to do . We manage to find it little by little. These are individual speeches at times, collective by others, that I make so that the players feel invested, but the floor is open to everyone. "

Q: This success gives you back some favorite clothes you left behind after the Euro ...

R: "It's not because we won Norway that we forget what we were able to do a week ago. We know that in a competition, you have to show humility, to question, to make the separation between the matches and to refocus immediately on this match which awaits us tomorrow (against Austria) and which will not necessarily be obvious. We want to continue what we did yesterday , to have fun on the pitch as we tried to do on the first action where we paid for a kung fu (from Kentin Mahé on a pass from Guigou), to show that we want to burst during this World Cup. "

Interview at a press conference

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