The objective of winning without returning a single round and leaving few points to the Cameroonians, in order to be the best ranked possible at the end of the final phase, is fulfilled.
The Olympic champions will know their opponent in the round of 16, spread out between next Saturday and Tuesday (1st against 16th, 2nd against 15th and so on) once the last group matches have been played on Wednesday.
They will also have to wait to find out if they will stay in Ljubljana or if they will immediately head to Poland, where the semi-finals and the final will be held on September 11.
“You have to get out of it all a bit, not think about it. These are thoughts beyond our control”, commented to the press, about the rest, captain Benjamin Toniutti.
The Blues hope to go to Poland as late as possible and thus keep their quarters in Slovenia, in this Stozice Arena where they have made their mark for a week, and which is preferred by coach Andrea Giani.
The Italian was able to take advantage of this meeting against the weakest team in the group to breathe his holders and give rhythm to the substitutes.
“It was important that all the players could play in this first round, for their pace in view of the round of 16,” said Giani.
Of the starting six lined up in the first two matches, against Germany (3-0) and Slovenia (3-2), only the central Barthélémy Chinenyeze started.
– Ngapeth remained in a tracksuit –
Among the others, some played a few minutes, like the receiver-attacker Trévor Clévenot, in failure against the Slovenians.
Star Earvin Ngapeth was on fire on Sunday against Slovenia (29 pts) but did not step on the pitch against Cameroon, who remained in tracksuits throughout the match.
He will therefore still not have played against the country of origin of his father, Eric Ngapeth, former Cameroonian and French international and current coach of Nancy (2nd division).
After the meeting, he posed on the field with several Cameroonian players, all smiles.
Cameroon, of which only a few players are professional, only hung the Blues in the last round. A respite for France who had a much quieter match than their first two, where they had to erase match points (Slovenia) and set points (Germany).
The Olympic champions, led in this third set 13-10 then neck and neck 16-16, then tightened the bolts in attack, led by captain and passer Benjamin Toniutti.
Like the sharp Stephen Boyer (19 pts, best scorer of the game) or the central Quentin Jouffroy (9 pts), author in the second set of two big services including an ace allowing the Blues to come off (23 then 24 -19.
“It’s a bit difficult to enter the competition, especially at a somewhat special pace: we come out of a match with 11,000 people (Sunday against Slovenia, editor’s note), there was a little less atmosphere. .. We had to do the job, we did it. Maybe not with the way, but it’s done,” Boyer said.
For him and his partners, serious things are now beginning.