A new evening without fear for the Blues. After a lively game, the French handball team dominated the Netherlands 34 to 24, at the MVD dome in Budapest, Hungary, for its first match of the main round of the Euro. The Oranges, who played in light blue, did not have the weapons to resist more than a half-time against the physically cooler Tricolors, who have a richer bench and who had benefited from an additional day of recovery. Once again, Vincent Gérard, the French goalkeeper, author of 13 saves, managed a very high level match.
“We can be satisfied with our performance tonight. We were dominant in defence. After a good start, we tripped over the carpet, dithering in our choices, losing balls, which put the Dutch back in the saddle. But we took over physically in the second half. They had no more energy. declared coach Guillaume Gille at the microphone of BeIN Sports after the meeting.
The Netherlands are the surprise guest of the main round. Having never reached this level in a major competition, the Dutch beat Portugal and Hungary in the preliminary round. A playful team, more renowned for its offensive qualities than for its defense, the most permeable of the twelve teams still in contention. On the French side, the main development compared to the match against Serbia was the replacement of the pivot Karl Konan, declared positive for Covid-19, on January 18, by Nicolas Tournat, of the Polish club of Kielce.
The French entered the game perfectly, leading 4-0 after four minutes. Nicolas Tournat managed several shots in pivot, and the Oranges could not adjust the sights, well helped in this by a Vincent Gérard of the big nights. The Batavian pyrotechnician Kay Smits, top scorer of the Euro, had to wait until the tenth minute to open his counter. But, little by little, the game of the Blues was fraying.
“We stop giving gifts”
Unusual errors in transmissions and some spectacular saves from goalkeeper Bart Ravensbergen allowed the Oranges to resurface. The Dutch, taking advantage of a two-minute penalty sanctioning Nikola Karabatic, came back to a goal (10-9) in the sixteenth minute.
At the 20and minute, the Blues went from a flat defense to a stepped one (1-5), with a detached player, Benoît Kounkoud, to harass the opposing ball carrier. A tactic that was to prove ineffective. Two new French exclusions (Valentin Porte and Kentin Mahé) for minor faults allowed the Dutch to equalize in the 23rdand minutes (12-12).
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