#EUROVOLLEYM France ?? Slovakia ?? 25-22 25-20 25-19 first contract fulfilled for the Blues ??? https://t.co/Y37DtlYXH5
It was their first official match since their Olympic coronation in Tokyo. For their entry into Euro 2021, the French volleyball players did not do in detail against modest Slovakia: they arranged in three sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-19), Friday, September 3 , at Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, Estonia.
The enclosure was far from full for the first official competition appearance of the new French Olympic champions in the early evening on the shores of the Baltic. Just over 200 supporters were present, out of the 7,000 that the Saku Suurhall can contain.
#EuroVolleyM #FRASLO some French supporters to welcome the Blues on the ground ?. Live match on… https://t.co/9SQ5NI2Cdf
Most of them, however, were committed to the cause of the Blues, with some French flags. They are the ones who ensured the atmosphere in the stands, including To the Champs Elysees of Joe Dassin between the second and the third set.
“We enjoyed playing in front of them. We weren’t aware that there would be a bit of an audience for us, that’s cool. It participates in the thing and us, it motivates us “, slipped Jean Patry at the end of the match. Against Slovakia, which France had last faced at Euro 2013 (3-0 victory), Bernardinho celebrated his first official match as coach of the Blues, he who took the head of the team after the Games and the end of Laurent Tillie’s nine-year term.
Jean Patry and Earvin Ngapeth provide the show
On the ground, it was the two heroes of the Olympic final won against Russia, Jean Patry and Earvin Ngapeth, who provided the show, with 17 points each, while the Blues clearly dominated the Slovak attack on the counter ( 15 in total), notably Barthélémy Chinenyeze (6).
It is thanks to this sector of the block that the French were able to take over the management of a second set that was more hooked than the first and that they ideally launched the third act. When the Slovaks took the lead in the last round, it was again Ngapeth and Patry who allowed the Blues to take the lead again. Trévor Clévenot, author of a very good meeting (13 points), scored the match point, after only 1 h 19 of play.
“That’s what we needed, to be serious. We needed a victory anyway, as we did this evening, it’s nickel, it’s clean, it’s laid ”, underlined Jean Patry. Only small shadow on the board for Bernardinho: the very small elongation to an adductor of Nicolas Le Goff, preserved by the supervision for the match against Slovakia and that Daryl Bultor has perfectly replaced at the central position.
The Blues will be at rest on Saturday, before facing Croatia on Sunday at 6 p.m., then Germany on Monday at 7 p.m., which will be the first big test of this first round, where the French will also be opposed to Latvia and the Estonia, before the round of 16, promised to the first four of this group, largely within the reach of the Olympic champions.