City of October 6 (Egypt) (AFP)

As two days before against Switzerland, France suffered considerably to beat Algeria 29-26 and take another step towards the quarter-finals of the 2021 World Handball Cup on Wednesday in the suburbs of Cairo.

The Blues, already winners of Norway and Switzerland in the first round, remain in the lead of Pool III with 6 points and are now looking to Iceland, the next trap on their way Friday.

If Portugal beats Norway later Wednesday, a success against the Nordic island, beaten by Switzerland after a game without rhythm (20-18), will be enough to reach the final table.

But the performance delivered against Algeria by Alain Portes, the former coach of the French women's team (2013-2016) who left against a backdrop of tensions with his players, is not reassuring.

The Blues got off to a bad start in the match and struggled a lot during the sixty minutes.

Yet it was the most affordable opponent, on paper, of this main round.

Kentin Mahé's comeback in the second half (4/5 on shots in just 13 minutes) was precious.

It is he who, served by Dika Mem, finds space at 6 m and allows the Blues to breathe again in the 50th minute (25-23).

The Algerians clearly had more desire, like goalkeeper Khalifa Ghedbane who made 4 saves after 7 minutes.

Or Toulouse left-back Ayoub Abdi, who came to intercept a pass on Nedim Remili before stealing the ball from him again after a save by Vincent Gérard (3-7, 11th).

- Failed start of the match -

Coach Guillaume Gille wanted to give time to pivot Nicolas Tournat, center-half Melvyn Richardson and right-back Adrien Dipanda, the three players in the group of 16 least used so far (20 minutes).

But he quickly had to resolve to bring in the Luka Karabatic and Ludovic Fabregas towers to restore order in defense.

After being further behind by 4 goals on an overpowering shot from Abdelkader Rahim (5-9), the Blues woke up with a 7-0 in 8 minutes at the Fennecs (12-9, 22nd), thus taking the ahead for the first time in the game.

But every time the Blues seemed able to take off, Algeria reacted: from 12-9 to 12-11, then from 15-11 to 15-13.

And then again after the break, when Dika Mem gave a new advantage of +3 (18-15) but the Fennecs came back to equality and even took the lead (20-21) thanks to Reda Arib, injured in end of the game.

The overpowering shots 9 m from Messaoud Berkous (7 goals in total) did a lot of harm to the Blues who, like against Switzerland, had all the difficulties in the world to extricate themselves from the quagmire (23-23).

While it seemed a little more serene (26-24), the exclusions of Jean-Jacques Acquevillo and Hugo Descat in the wake (53rd) thus allowed the Algerians to still hope.

Michaël Guigou stumbled on Yahia Zemouchi like Mahé on a crucial penalty 5 minutes from time.

But two goals from Acquevillo made it possible to escape the disaster.

© 2021 AFP