Yanis Lenne (France)
3 days after the complicated match against the Polish host, the Olympic champions faced Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2003. With the return of Valentin Porte in the French group, the Blues largely prevail against the Saudis.
It was Parisian winger Mathieu Grébille who opened the scoring for the French. Without forcing, France will quickly take the lead and will not leave it for the entire first period. The first Saudi goal will arrive after 4 minutes, by Madhi Al-Salem (4-1, 4′). Carried by a fast game well exploited, the French will take shelter from a possible Saudi return and will begin to relax their attention a little.
Several balls lost in attack, caused by a good defense on the tricolor pivots, will offer easy ammunition to Saudi Arabia, converted without flinching. The French defense also lacks rhythm and leaves a lot of space for the opposing centre-halves. To support this observation, one can think of Elohim for lunchquickly changed to Thibaud Brietin order to strengthen the central sector, too lax at times (14-10, 18′).
The Saudi red card will not help the players of Jan Pytlick, already struggling in the first period. The tricolors will continue to unfold in attack, passing the bar of 10 goals before the break (24-14, 30′).
The second period will see the blue advantage widening more and more, continuing their harvest in attack, despite a few missed easy shots, especially on the counter-attack. The blue defense still showing as solid, the Saudis will lose a lot of balls and allow the duo Desbonnet-Lenne to make France soar on the scoreboard (30-18, 43′).
As announced, Guillaume Gille ticks the boxes on his “to-do list” by offering Romain Lagarde et Charles Bolzinger their first minutes in the competition. The Blues will offer themselves a clear success 41 to 23.
Thanks to this clear victory, the French team qualifies for the main round and will try to secure its first place against Slovenia next Monday.
Statistics :
France – Saudi Arabia 41-23 (24-14)
Katowice, Spodek, 4500 spectateurs
Referees: B. Koo, S. Lee (KOR)
France : Gérard (5 saves / 19 shots including 0/1 penalty), Bolzinger (1 save / 3 tors including 0/2 penalty), Desbonnet (6 saves / 12 shots including 0/1 penalty); Lenne (8/10), Rémili (2/4), Lagarde (1/3), Prandi (3/7), Richardson (2/4 including 1/1 penalty), Tournat (6/8), N. Karabatic (1/1), Mahé (6/6 including 3/3 pen), Grébille (2/2), Fabregas (4/4), Porte (2/3), Nahi (1/1), Briet (3/ 3)
Temporary exclusions: Board (55′)
Saudi Arabia : Mohammed (10 arrêts / 45 tirs dont have 0/2 pen), Al-Saffar (0 arrêt / 5 tirs dont 0/2 pen); Al-Abbas (5/5 dont 4/4 pén), Al-Janabi (2/3), Quraish, Al-Hassan (1/6), Al-Hammad, Al-Abdulali (2/3), Almuwallad (1 /2), Ma. Al-Salem (5/13), Al-Hulaili , Al-Abas (4/6), Al-Turaiki, Almaa, Al-Taweel (1/1), Almohsin (2/3)
Temporary exclusions: Mohammed (21′), Al-Turaiki (21′), Almuwallad (30′)
Expulsion : Almaa (12’)
A Katowice, Théo Alleaume