With the exception of Benoît Kounkoud and Kyllian Villeminot, whose packages were expected, it was the players who faced the Netherlands and Egypt in the preparation match that were selected for Mondial, Poland and In Sweden, from January 11 to 29.
by Jérôme Porier
There was no surprise during the announcement, Sunday, January 8, of the list of eighteen French players selected for the World Handball in Poland and Sweden, from January 11 to 29. Satisfied with the two preparation matches played by the Blues, coach Guillaume Gille decided to trust the same group of 18 players who have difficulty beat the Netherlands (43-32), on December 4, in Le Mans, then in a way More convincing Egypt (33-32), Saturday January 7, in Orleans.
At each meeting of the World Cup, Guillaume Gille will be able to sleep sixteen names on the match sheet from this list of eighteen players. The Blues will enter the competition on Wednesday January 11 by a high tension match against Poland, at home, in Katowice. A serious test for Luka Karabatic’s teammates, the new tricolor captain. No less than 10,000 spectators are expected in SPODEK, an omnisport room in the shape of a flying saucer, to support white and red. “This meeting has everything of the trap match, warns Guillaume Gille. The Poles will want to start writing their story in this competition. They will be at the limit of what they can produce on the field.”
The coach announces to target the title, while the French team failed twice at the foot of the podium during the last euro, in 2022, and the last World Cup, in 2021. Already six times titled in this competition, the Tricolore handballers have not won the world championship since their home victory in 2017. 2>
many injured
The list of French players Packages for the world championship is long (Timothey N’Guessan, Aymeric Minne, Karl Konan, Hugo Descat, Wesley Pardin, Kyllian Villeminot and Benoît Kounkoud), but Guillaume Gille does not worry about it . “I am happy with the work provided, but everything is reset at the start of the competition. The interesting thing was to progress, to refresh the hard disk for the French team with everyone, to bring together,” he said .
If optimism is in the tricolor ranks, it is also because the French team can count on the automatisms of players who are used to evolving together all year round in the best clubs Europeans. They are thus four players from Paris Saint-Germain selected in selection (Nikola Karabatic, Luka Karabatic, Elohim Prandi, Mathieu Grébille), three of FC Barcelona (Dika Mem, Melvyn Richardson, Ludovic Fabregas) and four of the Polish club of Kielce (Nedim Remili, Dylan Nahi, Benoît Kounkoud, Nicolas Tournat).
In the absence of Timothey Nguessan, Le Parisien Elohim Prandi (24 years old, 10 selections) and the Nantes Thibaud Briet (23, 13 selections) will share the left back post. At the post of left winger, the Parisian Mathieu Grébille (31 years old, 79 selections) was recalled to replace the Package of Hugo Descat, the player of the Montpellier Handball.
Called last hour, Kyllian Villeminot (24), the young half-center of Montpellier, in delicacy with his right knee for a few weeks, finally declared forfeit Tuesday and will therefore have to wait a little more before doing his debut international.
The last package announced on Friday is that of Benoît Kounkoud. He was expected because Kielce’s right winger has struggled to recover for several months from a left foot injury. On Wednesday, he went out on injury during the preparation match against the Netherlands. He could suffer from a “partial break in the aponeurosis of the left foot”, according to the press release from the French team. This last minute package should not penalize the Blues too much to the extent Yanis Lenne and Valentin Porte, two experienced players, are able to hold the post of right winger during the World Cup.
In goals, the Blues will count on the experienced Vincent Gérard (36 years old). Sometimes irregular, he had led the Blues to the Olympic coronation in 2021. Sign of the confidence that Guillaume Gille grants him, Gérard played the entire match against Egypt on Saturday, with excellent statistics (17 stops on 49 shots, or 35 % success). The two goalkeepers of Montpellier Handball, Remi Desbonnet (30 years old) and the young Charles Bolzinger (22 years old) complete the workforce. The latter, now a club holder, should know his first cape at this World Cup.