It wasn’t easy at all. We thought they were lost. Sometimes drowned. The Blues trembled. They had a terribly difficult evening, Denmark gave them unthinkable worries. The French have come a long way in the match and in this Euro disrupted by the Covid. But they are in the semi-finals and that’s the main thing. The Olympic champions will face Sweden this Friday to open the doors to the final, where they will also perhaps find the Danish world champions.
This semi-final will be a remake of the World Cup in Egypt, almost a year ago to the day. France, drained, had lost at the time 32-26. In other words, we will still have to fight a big battle in a few hours to go to the final. The other semi-final will pit Denmark against Spain.
This Wednesday evening in Budapest, the deal at kick-off was as simple as pie: above all not to lose. To go to the semi-finals, the Blues had to beat the world champions to face Sweden on Friday, or settle for a draw to challenge Spain. A defeat sent France home after an insignificant classification game. The task was not easy even if Denmark had nothing to defend. The Danes already had their qualification in hand, whatever happens. Moreover, to rotate for the final four, they left PSG star Mikkel Hansen at rest.
Only, the French did not arrive on the ground with all the forces either. Positive for Covid, Kentin Mahé and Nicolas Tournat were placed in solitary confinement. They joined their coach, Guillaume Gille, positive since the end of the week. These three followed the match in their hotel room: we can imagine their tension, their frustration.
At the start of the match, nothing worked. The men in red quickly took the measure, without calculating anything. With victory calling for victory, the Danes were keen to remain undefeated. So they attacked very hard (6-3, 8th) to put doubt in the minds of the tricolors. The Blues had trouble waking up. The specter of the crack against the Icelanders (29-21) a few days earlier hovered at the start of the game.
After a quarter of an hour of play, the Danes still had a 4-goal lead (10-6, 15th). There was danger at that time in the blue house. Carried by the youth of Aymeric Minne, the French have nibbled away at this worrying delay. But the Danes, a little less dashing at the end of the first period, kept their lead (12-9, 21st) and even increased it (14-9, 23rd). Not reassuring. We can then imagine if France, as was the case at one time, had to win this 7-goal match to qualify. It would have been impossible. But winning by one goal was doable, provided they didn’t let the Danes remain the bosses of the match and score all their shots. It was thus necessary to wait twenty-five minutes to see the first stop of a French goalkeeper. It’s long, far too long.
like a miracle
At the break, it didn’t smell good. The Danes were quite far in front and France seemed helpless, little successful in attack and bad luck in defense. Returning to the locker room, the Blues were 5 goals (17-12) behind. Too much ? Not on paper, on the sole condition of throwing all your forces into battle, without calculating anything. Lost for lost…
To regain hope, it was still necessary to reduce the gap. He did not move at the start of the second half (20-15, 35th). Dika Mem and Melvyn Richardson tried to make up for this delay, and the defense tightened its bolts. But Denmark has not been the best nation in the world – double world champion, Olympic champion in 2016, runner-up in 2021 – for a few years for nothing. The Danes got into the head of the Blues without getting out. France continued to suffer, stumbling over the Danish goalkeeper. Fifteen minutes from the end (24-19, 44th), it was still just as frustrating, annoying, sometimes desperate (26-21, 46th).
And then, with a wave of a magic wand, the French finally woke up! 10 minutes from the end, they were 3 goals (27-24, 50th) behind, then two (27-25, 52nd), then one (27-26, 53rd). Everything became possible again. The Blues came back tied on the score on a penalty from Hugo Descat (28-28, 56th) and it was then necessary to hold on at all costs. Nikola Karabatic has regained his young man’s legs, Vincent Gérard has come out of his box: everything is back to normal. Two minutes from time, the Blues went ahead (29-30) for the first time. And they ended up winning after an absolutely incredible evening. The Blues are in the semi-finals of the Euro. Phew!