A being is missing, but the team of France is not depopulated: Deprived of Nikola Karabatic, injured, the Blues have perfectly launched their qualifying campaign for the Euro-2020 largely dominating Lithuania (42-27), Thursday , in Aix-en-Provence.
Operated from the big toe, Karabatic needs six months to heal. He will miss the qualifying tournament for the Euro in Austria, Norway and Sweden, but especially the World Cup-2019, co-hosted by Germany and Denmark from 10 to 27 January. But the Blues have proved that they did not necessarily need the PSG player to qualify: led by Raphael Caucheteux (5 goals) and Luc Abalo (3 goals), the men of Didier Dinart already led six goals after of 15 minutes before turning to the break largely in the lead (21-10).
Serious and applied, the French have perfectly mastered their opponents, with no solution to the defensive organization and the speed of the Blues.Diminished by the absence of some players executives, Lithuania, who has never beaten the French (five defeats , a draw), could not compete. In the second half, the French team ended up managing their advantage, offering some spectacular goals to the fans in Aix.
"It's a win that says a lot, you had to adjust to Nico's injury. There were left-handers looking for their place, it's very important, "said the coach on beIN Sports. "It's never easy to tackle a match like that, we wanted to make the match easy from the start. We quickly found the rhythm and, in the second half, we continued to play hard, " said Luka Karabatic.
In a group 6 where also include Portugal and Romania, next opponent of the Blues, Sunday in Cluj, the Blues seem more than well gone to travel to Austria, Norway and Sweden, where they already dream of winning the first continental title since 2014.