Like France-England men’s rugby matches, France-Russia women’s handball matches are never friendly. The face-to-face meeting between the two countries which will take place on Monday, December 13, on the floor of the Granollers Sports Palace, during the last matches of the preliminary round of the World Cup, should not be an exception.
This reunion promises to be tense. Even if the two teams have already qualified for the quarter-finals, they are aiming for first place in the group, in order to avoid a perilous next round. Indeed, the second of this group 1 will have to challenge the first of group 2 and it could be Norway, which, until then, had been a scarecrow figure in this World Cup.
However, the Norwegians were hooked on Saturday by the Swedes (30-30) and they will play for first place on Monday against the Dutch, first tied. With, there too, a big stake: in the event of defeat, if at the same time Sweden beat the Romanian, Norway would be out of the tournament.
The history of the confrontations between France and Russia is as long as the Moscow winter. In recent years, these two great nations of women’s handball have faced each other on multiple occasions. Four months ago, at the Tokyo Games, the Russians beat the French in pool 28 to 27, but then lost 25 to 30 in the final, after a Homeric match.
In 2016, at the Rio Games, Russia deprived France of the Olympic title (22-19). The Blue had taken their revenge (24-21) at home in the final of Euro 2018. And during the main round of Euro 2020, the two teams could not decide (28-28).
Long range shooting failure
If the France team has kept its backbone from Tokyo, a lot has changed on the Slavic side. After the departure of many executives, the team coached by Alexeï Alexeïev is being rebuilt. In its first match in the preliminary round, it could not do better than a draw (26-26) against Slovenia, a team that France had easily dominated in the preliminary round.
Among Tokyo’s 16 silver medalists, only six Russian players are present in Spain. At 26, right-back Anna Vyakhireva, voted best player of the Rio and Tokyo Games (as well as Euro 2018) has decided to take a break from her career. The same goes for center-half Daria Dmitrieva, also 26.
On the French side, however, the workforce is almost complete. The only absent is Laura Flippes, who suffers from a minor ankle sprain. The back of Paris 92 should make a comeback on the occasion of the final table.
The narrow victory in the previous match against Serbia (22-19) showed how much his powerful arm is lacking in the Blues who have failed long-distance shooting.
“A difficult match”
France does not intend to sell the skin of the bear before having completed it. “I expect a tough game, warns center-half Grâce Zaadi, who has played for two years for Russian club Rostov-Don. There are a lot of talented girls in Russia, I know their potential. Many play in the Champions League. On the other hand, the news still lacks experience at the highest level. It’s up to us to take advantage of it. “
An opinion shared by the experienced Coralie Lassource, the captain of the Bleues: “It’s a reshaped team, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to have an easy game. Their attack is better than their defense, with a big hitting force from the rear ”, she analyzes. Elena Mikhaylichenko and Antonina Skorobogatchenko are formidable attackers with strong arms. In defense, goalkeeper Anastasiia Lagina is also one of the best in the world.
The Russian team performs fewer rotations than France, which has one of the best benches at the World Cup. A detail that could start to count, knowing that the teams, who play every two days, will play their sixth game of the competition.
The quarter-finals will take place on December 14 and 15 in Granollers, near the French border, where France have played all of their matches, unlike Russia, which started in Lliria, near Valencia. Whatever the outcome of this meeting, France and Russia will not be able to meet again before a possible final.