The French women’s handball team, reigning Olympic and world champion, won painfully in a friendly against Romania (30-28) on Sunday in Clermont-Ferrand, its last match before the pre-Olympic gathering in Capbreton, from June 12. The French closed this April international window with a third success, acquired with difficulty after two easy victories against Italy and Latvia, in qualifying for Euro 2024.
Facing a young Romanian selection, the Blues, with their typical team at kick-off, displayed technical waste, particularly on ball lifts and shots. “We’ve been playing well for a long time and now we’ve fallen back into our mistakes. We lost a lot of balls. We missed a lot of shots,” regretted coach Olivier Krumbholz at the microphone of the L’Équipe channel. “It was a bad match for the France team, it’s good to have won it with disparate individual performances. But it is a warning without cost.
The Blues returned to the locker room at the break with only four goals in advance (17-13 MT). In the second period, the largesse of the French defense even allowed the Romanians, despite being outnumbered, to come back to within one goal ( 26-25). But the return at the end of the match of goalkeeper Laura Glauser, who had given up her place in the cage to Floriane André after the break, was valuable and contributed to the short success of the Bleues.
Before this last squad review against Romania, France had largely beaten Italy (36-13) and Latvia (53-9). These last two qualifying matches for the Euro were without stakes, the Blue already having their ticket for the continental tournament at the end of the year (November 28-December 15).
Until then, a much greater challenge awaits the French women: retaining their Olympic title during the Olympics at home (July 26-August 11). First stage: the draw on Tuesday for the groups of the Olympic tournament, then start of the pre-Olympic gathering in Capbreton (Landes), on June 12 and announcement of the list, on July 5.
