Handball: France lays down its arms in the semi-finals of the 2021 World Cup against Sweden
Sweden's Jonathan Carlsbogard facing Frenchman Adrien Dipanda, January 29, 2021. AP - Petr David Josek
Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow
3 min
Faced with a Swedish team that performs very well in attack and imperial in defense, the French handball team lost in the semifinals of the 2021 World Cup on Friday January 29 (32-26).
The Blues, in reconstruction, have not found the resources and the right formula to catch up with their opponents.
Sunday, they will have to be content to aim for the bronze medal.
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A year ago, the French men's handball team, so successful and so medalist since the mid-2000s, experienced a snub during the Euro with an elimination in the first round.
The 2021 World Cup in Egypt will remain as a positive rebound for the Blues.
But this tournament will not be crowned with the most beautiful of metals.
This Friday, France fell against Sweden in the first semi-final (32-26).
Without Luka Karabatic and Timothey N'Guessan, injured in the quarter-final tense against Hungary (35-32), Guillaume Gille's men have hardly ever been able to compete on the parquert of the Cairo sports complex.
Throughout the meeting, they have led to the score only briefly on one occasion, in the first act (7-6).
The only clearing up in a meeting mastered by Sweden.
Scandinavian goalkeepers Andreas Palicka - named Man of the Match - and Mikael Aggefors have made a string of saves while French counterparts Vincent Gérard and Yann Genty have hardly ever succeeded in stemming the Swedish attacks.
Gérard appeared particularly in the hard by not signing any parade during a very large part of the 60 minutes of play. After about fifteen lost duels, he did not achieve his first until the 55th ...
The very complicated task turned to the impossible as the minutes ticked by and Sweden rolled out their handball.
The red card sent to Adrien Dipanda for a nudge (51st) did not help matters for the Blues.
It is their Swedish opponents who will be aiming for the world title on Sunday, 22 years after their last one, already obtained on Egyptian soil.
It will be against the winner of the other semi-final which will oppose Spain to Denmark.
France will seek the bronze medal against the other defeated semi-finalist.
Since 1993, the Habs have only missed the World Cup podium three times (1999, 2007 and 2013).
See you on Sunday for a potential third place, as in 2019.
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