Tokyo (AFP)
Without ever trembling, the French handball players treated their entry into the Tokyo Olympic tournament by dominating Argentina (33-27) on Saturday at the Yoyogi stadium.
Vice-Olympic champions in Rio, Guillaume Gille's men were even able to conduct a large workforce review.
In the absence of a party in the stands, deserted because of the general closed door in Tokyo, the celebrations took place on the floor where the Blues field players shared the playing time equally.
"There was a somewhat homogeneous distribution to allow the boys to enter their competition", explained Guillaume Gille.
This coaching also says a lot about the margin of the French against the Argentines on Saturday.
"It is often the match that decides," conceded the coach, questioned on the possibility of reviewing this type of change in the rest of the tournament.
With the exception of Nicolas Tournat, designated as the fifteenth man and therefore absent from the scoresheet, everyone took part.
Even captain Michaël Guigou (39 years old).
Unsure after being preserved in the last warm-up game against Denmark, he started the game well on the left wing.
The party, even silent, could have been total if goalkeeper Vincent Gérard, inspired in his role as a bulwark (9 saves, 33%), had scored just before the break.
But his shot towards the empty cage bounced off the bar and turned into an assist for Ludovic Fabregas.
- "Need to launch a dynamic" -
"If we had won two hard goals it would not have been the same thing. There we were able to unfold," said the French goalkeeper.
"Above all, we needed to build momentum."
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This success for their debut, certainly against the most affordable team in the group, has been a habit of the Blues since 2004.
He quickly emerged with a six-goal gap widened in the 23rd minute (12-6).
But a slight hesitation on the French side combined with an imprecision in the finish allowed the Argentines to get closer at the break (12-10).
Guillaume Gille had warned his players against any slackening Thursday against the "grinta that characterizes the Argentines".
The second half of Nikola Karabatic's gang, who himself made his debut on the floor after returning from the locker room, was again detached thanks to 7 goals from Melvyn Richardson all registered in the second period.
Now it's up to Brazil on Monday, which held its own against Norway on Saturday (10-6, in the middle of the first period) before losing.
The Blues can therefore expect a gradual increase in difficulty with this next match.
“The idea is to win it,” said Guillaume Gille.
A second victory against the Auriverde, endowed with "firepower with big shooters", according to him, would launch the French handballers perfectly.
To see the quarter-finals, they must rank among the top four in their group of six (Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Norway) where the double European champions Spain are favorites for first place.
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