TOPS
With his perfect 7 out of 7 shooting, including “only” two throws from seven meters, Hugo Descat was logically elected player of the match. Above all, it will have been the symbol of a match during which the French team knew how to highlight its wingers. Faced with a Macedonian defense keen to close the spaces in the axis of the field as much as possible, the French backs were able to find the right shifts which made Descat happy, but also Dylan Nahi (6 out of 6 on shots) and Benoit Kounkoud (3 out of 3).
Not content with having won this first match on its own (39-29), the French team was also able to afford the luxury of rotating its squad and involving everyone. Thus, apart from the defense specialist Karl Konan, all the outfield players scored during this match and Guillaume Gille was able to avoid pulling on the string of some. With well-balanced playing times, the Blues prepared perfectly for the rest of the competition.
Even if this record will only hold for the space of an hour, given that it will be beaten without a shadow of a doubt during the Germany-Switzerland match scheduled for this Wednesday evening, the French team will nevertheless have had the pleasure of playing in front of nearly 50,000 spectators against North Macedonia. While it was reasonable to wonder about the arrival of spectators for this first match, the German public demonstrated their immoderate love for handball not only by being present from 6 p.m. at the Merkur-Spiel Arena in Düsseldorf, but by putting also a nice atmosphere.
FLOPS
Obviously, it is common knowledge that a first match, and even more so a first quarter of an hour in a major competition, is never easy. Nevertheless, the Blues were very far from a level worthy of their status as reigning Olympic champions during these initial 15 minutes which were largely erased, both in attack with poorly assured shots and avoidable loss of balls, as well as in defense, where the French did not put the necessary intensity to stop the Macedonians without fear. So much so that after this first quarter of an hour, Macedonia led by two goals (8-10) and without two good saves from Rémi Desbonnet, the bill could have been higher.
Beating Macedonia by ten goals with a Nedim Remili-Nikola Karabatic duo at 2 out of 9 on shots in total is rather good news. Indeed, neither the Veszprem player nor the Paris SG player were seen to their advantage in Düsseldorf this Wednesday. Which did not prevent France from winning widely, a sign that it does not lack assets and resources on the sidelines. And without a shadow of a doubt, it is likely that Remili and Karabatic often reproduce this type of poor performance in attack.