Paris (AFP)

Four months before the Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8), the French handball players, vice-champions of Europe three months ago, have mastered a good team from Denmark 26 to 22, Thursday evening in a friendly match in Créteil .

A second preparation match is scheduled for late Saturday afternoon (5:00 p.m.) between the two selections, still in Créteil.

"We work a lot on combinations in attack, cross movements. I think we still need a little time to perfect the game. We lacked a little lucidity to make a definitive gap when they played. at seven, but I think there is enthusiasm, desire and great responses ", rejoiced the coach of the France team, Olivier Krumbholz, at the microphone of beIN Sports at the outcome of the meeting.

"There are dangerous players. We can see the collective taking shape that will be effective in Tokyo. A little bit," he added, affirming that he will continue to distribute the playing time as much as possible between the players. 21 players from the rally.

The French women, silver in Rio in 2016, are looking towards the Games and the Olympic title, the only one missing from their impressive record (2003 and 2017 world champions, 2018 European champions).

This meeting allowed Allison Pineau to make his comeback after missing Euro-2020, due to a nose injury a few weeks before the start of the competition.

France, thanks to its title of European champion at home in 2018, is already qualified for Tokyo, while Denmark has failed to qualify for one of the three qualifying tournaments where will be distributed the last places for Japan.

© 2021 AFP