World handball: Slovenia lost, the Blues continue their flawless game

The French team comes out undefeated from the preliminary round of the World Cup. After two first wins over Poland (26-24) and then over Saudi Arabia (41-23), the Blues beat Slovenia (35-31) on Monday night. Everything was not easy and not perfect, especially in the first half, but the tricolors continue their flawless work, and this is the main thing. Before the start, they had already reached the main round of the tournament.

In a formula always (too) confusing, the Olympic champions will now face Iran, Montenegro and especially Spain in Krakow. At the end of the second group stage, from which they will come out with the maximum number of points and if there is no unthinkable man-made disaster, Nikola Karabatic’s partners will undoubtedly reach the quarterfinals.

The challenge is to get there in good conditions to meet an opponent who is not too difficult yet. For example, the Netherlands or Serbia, which seem to be two potential targets. Bypassing Germany or Norway at this stage of the competition is in any case the goal of Guillaume Gilles players. Later there will be time to challenge Denmark or Sweden in the last four or even better in the final. “We are not projecting ourselves yet,” says captain Luka Karabatich at the BeINSport microphone. We are moving forward match by match to strengthen our team. On such a long formula, first of all, you need to stay in shape. “To make things as easy as possible, there is only one solution: to stay undefeated and go to the rest of the tournament with maximum points. This has been done so far. Apart from Spain, which will be a serious test, Iran and Montenegro should not create serious problems for France in the coming days.

Without Barcelona’s Dick Mem suffering from a slight muscular discomfort, but with captain Luka Karabatic recovering from the cross, it took the Blues time to get rid of the Slovenes. By the break, France was not yet safe (16-14). Fortunately, the rink started in the second half and everything went well. After the first week of competition, the Blues are on a roll. “This match against the Slovenians was a real challenge and we got off to a good start in this competition,” says coach Guillaume Gilles. While everything is going well, we are waiting for news from Nedim Remil, who was released early due to a slight muscular discomfort. But the worst hasn’t happened yet.