Guillaume Gille, the coach of the France team, therefore unveiled this Friday evening the list of 20 players who will play next Thursday for Euro 2022. There are ten of the last Olympic champions, including Nikola Karabatic and Vincent Gérard, absent at the start of the course which began almost two weeks ago at the Handball House in Créteil, and which has just ended. Tested positive, Valentin Porte should join his teammates in Hungary along the way.
If the presence of the Parisian center-half was almost obvious (positive for Covid-19, the eldest of the Karabatic brothers ended his period of isolation at the start of the week), that of his teammate was more uncertain, Gérard having been affected by a terrible family mourning just before Christmas.
“The last moments of Vincent’s assessment confirmed his good physical shape and his desire,” Guillaume Gille explained at a press conference. Having the luxury of taking him is a real chance for the team. The goalkeeper of the Blues will be supported in the cages by the experienced Rémi Desbonnet and Wesley Pardin, Yann Genty having retired internationally, like Michaël Guigou and Luc Abalo.
Due to an incredible series of setbacks, the preparation of the France team was upset. Nedim Remili, Thimotey N’Guessan, Luka Karabatic forfeited due to injury. Several players have also been affected by the virus. Then there was the aggression of which Elohim Prandi was the victim in Paris. Finally, the two friendly matches initially planned against Egypt and Norway were canceled due to the health crisis.
The positive test of Valentin Porte, the captain, is the latest unfortunate setback for the France team. “He is in isolation and therefore unable to accompany us for the moment, so that’s why we chose to take Julien Bos, specifies the coach. No one is in a position to know exactly when he will return. This issue worries us but we have no new positive cases in the team ”. The Montpellier winger will have to follow the health protocol of the EHF (the European federation), namely five days of isolation and a negative test.
The group will fly to Germany on Saturday to play its only friendly match against Mannschaft (Sunday, 7 p.m. in Wetzlar), before joining Hungary. The Blues will then have three days to prepare for their first meeting, Thursday against Croatia (8:30 p.m.).
The list of 21 Blues
Goalkeepers : Vincent Gérard (PSG), Rémi Desbonnet (Nîmes), Wesley Pardin (Aix). Rear : Nikola Karabatic (PSG), Karl Konan (Aix), Romain Lagarde (Aix), Dika Mem (Barcelona, ESP), Melvyn Richardson (Barcelona), Julien Bos (Montpellier), Thibaud Briet (Nantes). Wingers : Hugo Descat (Montpellier), Benoît Kounkoud (PSG), Yanis Lenne (Montpellier), Dylan Nahi (Kielce, POL), Valentin Porte (Montpellier, cap). Pivots : Ludovic Fabregas (Barcelona), Nicolas Tournat (Kielce), Théo Monar (Nantes). Half-centers : Kentin Mahé (Veszprem, HON), Aymeric Minne (Nantes).