Clean and smudge-free. The France team delivered a convincing performance against Poland, Thursday, December 9, on the floor of the Granollers Sports Palace, for their first match of the main round. After three convincing wins in the preliminary round against tough opponents (Angola, Slovenia, Montenegro), who earned them four points, the French now have six points.
In other words, the Olympic champions are in a good position to qualify for the finals on Saturday against Serbia, who beat Montenegro (27-25), while Russia, dominated by Slovenia, managed to snatch the draw in the final seconds (26-26).
“We have decoded the game of the Poles well. Our defense was effective until the end, which is important for the future, because we will face increasingly strong opponents ”, declared at the end of the match Olivier Krumbholz, the coach of the Bleues, at the microphone of BeIN Sports. A coach all the more satisfied as he was able to rotate his squad, as he hoped after the exhausting match against Montenegro.
Faced with the great Polish full-backs, who have powerful arms, the French relied on their airtight defense – their trademark – and on their speed. Throughout the match, the French defenders looked far for the Polish full-backs to prevent them from shooting, and their quick counterattacks put the red defense to death.
In a one-sided match, the tricolor center-half Grâce Zaadi stood out, as did the pivot Pauletta Foppa, voted best player of the match. Building on the momentum of her previous games, goalie Laura Glauser also had a big game, with a high save percentage (44%). In difficulty against Montenegro, right-back Océane Sercien-Ugolin has finally shown herself in a better light.
Draft game
On the Polish side, the danger mainly came from the big back Aleksandra Rosiak. But, often without a solution, the Slavic full-backs were reduced to spreading systematically on the wings, a game too predictable to be effective, even to attempting distant and impossible shots. Nantes goalkeeper Adrianna Płaczek, however, had an excellent match, which allowed Poland to stay in touch at the break (14-9).
At the start of the second period, the Poles took two yellow cards in quick succession, and France took the opportunity to widen the gap (21-12 at the 39e minute). Refereeing errors and “walking” errors were on the increase on both sides, making the game messy. Unable to find favorable shooting situations, the Reds clearly did not have the means to return to the score. At the 56e minute, France took an advantage of ten goals, following a magnificent recovery from goalkeeper Cléopâtre Darleux, who found Pauletta Foppa between two Reds in front of the zone, for an unstoppable shot. Mass was said.
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