Olympic champion in Tokyo in August, the French women’s handball team fell from its pedestal Sunday, December 19, losing in the final of the world championship against Norway (22-29). A setback that does not prevent Olivier Krumbholz, his coach, from looking to the future. Quite the contrary.
How do you feel after this defeat?
Olivier Krumbholz: It was a game in two parts, a dream first part, where we lead by six goals. And then at that point, we make very big mistakes, and it’s not possible to make big mistakes if we want to beat this type of team. They have regained their energy, they are doing well in terms of the score, with the domination that we have been able to have. And behind, they stepped on us, they quickly came back to the score, that put us down in morale. At that time, in addition we still missed a lot of shots. Behind, it was impossible, the dynamic had changed. They fought bravely in defense, the guards fought. But they were faster, more precise in shooting and passing, more powerful in shooting. It’s way too much. They were stronger than us in the second half. It’s good to have done those first twenty minutes, but afterwards, we no longer had the means, no more gasoline to last sixty minutes.
Did the players lack physical freshness?
I actually have the impression that we were a little slow, imprecise, lost, almost haggard in attack. We dived more and more, perhaps seeking to take individual actions. We didn’t really manage to put our shooters in the shooting position. You have to work. It’s a very nice medal, but it’s also a warning. We had a lot of trouble beating the Danes, we lost a lot against Norway. If we want to achieve a great result in 2024, we will have to make enormous progress.
Did the chaotic end of the first half hurt you?
It broke the dynamic and we did not perform well in the redundant game, in the game in the last ten minutes of the first period, when we had chances. We lose a ball, we take two minutes, there is an interception. But, whatever the case, we shouldn’t regret anything, we have shown that we are capable of playing very well at times. We are able to put them in difficulty, but we should have less waste.
What did you say to yourself during the break?
We exchanged, we shared. The start of the second period is catastrophic because, given the quality of this opponent, they are outnumbered and they put the goals, whereas we did not put them in the last ten minutes of the first period. . If we had wanted to continue to dominate them and take the lead, we had to be more precise in these moments.
Do you already have work leads?
It is absolutely necessary that the girls rework the shooting, it is clear. The problem is that there are so many matches that the coaches often do like everyone else, a lot of tactics, but it’s still the biggest gap for the France team over the last three or four matches, the shot. And this is not new, so we have to work.