He failed a few months after the gold was hung at the London 2012 Games, failed a few months after the silver was hung at the 2016 Rio Games, and in the European Championship, for the third time, he failed a few months after the Tokyo Games 2020. It seems like a tradition, even a strategy - relax, win, before the battle - but what if something else happens now? This Sunday, France was eliminated in the first phase of the European after losing to Norway (26-28) and beyond the stumble, beyond even its defeat on Friday against Portugal (25-28), confirmed that the new generation did not It is as bright as the previous ones.

Although names are kept on the staff that will sound even the least common in handball, Nikola Karabatic , Luc Abalo or Cédric Sorhaindo , the command is already in the hands of young people and, for now, that is a problem. There is only one player, Kentin Mahé , able to order the current Gallic game and when it is not, as has happened in the European by injury, the disorder is remarkable.

He was desperate this Sunday at the bench or Didier Dinart , the current French coach, before the concatenation of losses of his own, but despair did not take away his good share of guilt. Without Mahé he gave the command to a Karabatic in low hours and forgot other options such as who rules in the PSG, Melvyn Richardson , son of the legendary Jackson Richardson , or Nicolás Claire , director of the Pays d'Aix, which was not even convened. Only in a stretch of 10 or 15 minutes during the tournament France did France appear, between the first and second half against Norway, when it accumulated an advantage of up to three goals (18-15, min. 32), but it was only a mirage.

Now the French team must focus on winning the Pre-Olympic Championship that they will organize there in April to avoid the greatest evil that would be missing their first Olympic Games since Seoul 1988. There they will face Croatia, another European team and an African team in a group that, seen seen, could have serious problems to lead.

The historic blow of France, at the same time, showed the inequality of this European, with a really affordable part of the group and another very hard, complicated. In groups A, B and C Spain, Germany and Croatia will be played, if there are no big surprises, both places in the semifinals while in groups D, E and F everything can happen. Norway, though, after eliminating France and with a truly extraordinary Sander Sagosen - he scored nine goals to the Gauls - points to a favorite at everything.

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