The victory, the entire squad involved and the pleasure of having played in front of nearly 50,000 spectators in Düsseldorf. The French team did not miss its start to the Euro by outclassing North Macedonia (39-29). A meeting which was far from perfect, particularly at the start or sometimes in defense in the second half. However, you would have to be a particularly perfectionist not to rejoice at this first success for the Blues.
In such an enclosure, in front of such an audience, the Blues legitimately needed time to find their bearings and gain momentum. A diesel version of the start which the Macedonians skilfully took advantage of to afford themselves the luxury of taking a two-goal lead after a quarter of an hour of play (8-10). Which forced Guillaume Gille to take his first time out of the competition, just to wake up his troops. Suddenly more invested on the defensive level, the French could also count on the depth of their bench to take the direction of operations. Between the numerous assists from Elohim Prandi and the last two goals of the first act signed by an aerial Melvyn Richardson, France returned to the locker room with an advantage of four lengths (17-13), so to speak flattering given the first twenty minutes Match.
Without knowing it yet, the Blues had just achieved the hardest part. Indeed, quickly, the second period took on the appearance of going it alone for France, with Guillaume Gille who had plenty of time to rotate his squad. With great efficiency, like the pivot Nicolas Tournat who took the opportunity to exceed the symbolic bar of 200 goals scored for the selection. With an eight-goal lead a quarter of an hour from the end (27-19), the French no longer had anything to fear from the Macedonians, now resigned. So much so that the last ten minutes had little interest, except for Dylan Nahi or Kentin Mahé who had fun and briefly brought the gap to ten points (37-27, 58th). A gap that the Blues maintained until the end (39-29) and who can now calmly await their duel against Switzerland next Sunday (6:00 p.m.).
