Mission accomplished. There was little suspense on Monday, January 17, in the Pick Arena in Szeged, Hungary, where the French team easily beat Serbia for their last match of the preliminary round of the Euros. At the end of a successful match, the French won 29 goals to 25, after a show of force in the first period. They thus gain access to the main round. With three wins in as many games, they are full, knowing that the two points collected will count for qualification for the final phase.
“We took the match by the right end. We set a lot of pace, which bothered the Serbs, especially in the wide open space. Our goalkeeper Vincent Gérard had a great game. These two points are valuable in the run-up to the main round.”, declared, after the meeting, Guillaume Gille, the coach of the Blues, at the microphone of BeIN.
“We fulfilled our contract and we qualified with the way, completed Kentin Mahé, the playmaker of the Tricolors. We had fun going up the balloons quickly. It’s easier to take risks when you have a goalkeeper like Vincent Gérard, behind, in goal. »
An impression of ease of entry into the match
If the public at the Pick Arena were loudly supporting Serbia – the town of Szeged being only about ten kilometers from the Serbian border – it would have taken a lot more to destabilize a France team sure of its fact, who could qualify even by losing, provided they did not concede more than six goals. But the French were keen to erase their defeat (24-27) against the “Orlovi” (the Eagles) a year ago, in Zrenjanin, in qualifying for this Euro.
Main changes from the previous match against Ukraine, the France team recorded the return of Nikola Karabatic to the position of left back, while Kentin Mahé started the game as playmaker. Beaten by Croatia two days earlier (23-20) at the end of a match under high tension, the Serbian team played its survival in the competition and absolutely had to win to hope to continue the adventure.
From the start of the match, in attack as in defense, the Blues multiplied the perfectly oiled sequences and gave off an impression of ease. If Dika Mem was less successful than in previous matches, Kentin Mahé took over to light the first wicks. Author of six goals, the tricolor playmaker has regularly taken over Vladimir Cupara, a goalkeeper he knows well since they play in the same club in Veszprém, Hungary. He finished as the game’s top scorer on the blue side, ahead of Dika Mem and Yanis Lenne.
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