One more step towards the European Championship. On Tuesday April 27, the French handball players won 40 to 31 against Greece in Korydallos, approaching qualification for the next continental championship, scheduled for January 13 to 30, 2022.
With seven points on the clock (three wins, one draw and one defeat) in this qualifying campaign, Guillaume Gille’s players have three points more than the Greeks (4) and two less than Serbia (9). In this group, Belgium was forced to package due to the health crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Michaël Guigou’s teammates in the selection, Tuesday evening, must finish in one of the first two places and will be mathematically assured of qualification for Euro 2022, in the event of Greece’s defeat against Serbia on Thursday. Otherwise, the French will have to take at least the point of the draw against Greece in Créteil on Sunday (scheduled for 5 p.m.) to validate their ticket.
Match-trap
In Korydallos, on the outskirts of Athens, all the ingredients were in place for a trap match for the French, fourth in the last 2021 World Cup and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics: a small room, almost non-existent preparation with a rally started on Monday , and an opponent that France had not played for a very long time.
The Blues came off the score quite quickly and managed their lead, however making a very muddled copy at times, especially in the second half. The 31 goals conceded against a very modest Greek team, testify to a poorly controlled game defensively and more complicated than hoped for at the start.
In this context, Michaël Guigou has written a small page in the history of French hand: at the 10e minute on a throw of seven meters, the captain became the fourth player in the blue jersey to cross the threshold of one thousand goals in selection. And a few minutes later he added a 1,001e on a superb kung fu between wingers, receiving the offering of Valentin Porte from his left wing.
Only three other players had crossed this symbolic milestone: Jérôme Fernandez, who remains the best director of the Blues with 1,463 goals, Nikola Karabatic with 1,210 goals and Frédéric Volle with 1,016 goals.
At 39, the Nîmes player will have several opportunities to get closer to Volle and climb on this podium for the top scorers. From Sunday against Greece and Tokyo for the Olympics this summer, if selected.