The teammates of Coralie Lassource signed their fifth victory in this World Championship on Saturday and are guaranteed with 8 points to finish in one of the first two places in group I. They will not know their opponent in the quarterfinals until the end of the last meetings of the main round on Monday evening.
The players of Olivier Krumbholz will face Russia (7 points), under neutral flag, Monday evening (8:30 p.m.) in a match for the first place, in order to avoid Norway, the other big favorite of the competition and at the head of the group II.
Whatever the result against Russia, the quarter-final will be raised for the French, since they will face either the Norwegians (3rd of the Tokyo Games), or the Swedes (4th in Tokyo), or the Dutch, title holders. global.
In the world championship, the French remained on elimination from the first round in Kumamoto (Japan) in 2019, their only failure in international competition since 2016, since they have climbed six podiums in the previous seven major championships.
Olympic champions in Tokyo at the beginning of August, they are aiming for a double in the space of a little over four months that only the Danes (1996) and the Norwegians (2004 and 2012) managed to achieve (JO-Euro at the time ).
Since the start of the competition in Granollers, north of Barcelona, the French have clearly dominated strong opponents, such as Slovenia (29-18), Montenegro (24-19) or Poland (26-16).
Saturday against Serbia, the French were led in the first period (12-9), despite the stops of Laura Glauser (7).
The French attack was in check on the shot, scoring no goals in the final 13 minutes before the break.
French Océane Sercien-Ugolin attacking Serbia's goal in Group I of the main round in Granollers, December 11, 2021 Josep LAGO AFP
In the second half, the Bleues quickly got back together (12-12) without succeeding for a long time to detach themselves, because of many missed face-to-face with the Serbian goalkeeper Jovana Risovic.
But a penalty save from the incoming Cleopatra Darleux then a seven-meter throw obtained by Méline Nocandy transformed by Grâce Zaadi allowed them to make the gap (20-18, 58th) and manage the end of the match.
© 2021 AFP