France qualified for the final after its stunning victory against Sweden in overtime

Totally dominated in the second period, the Blues snatched an unexpected extension on Prandi’s final shot of regulation time, before making the difference to win (34-30) on Friday.

France qualified for the final after its stunning victory against Sweden in the Euro semi-final against Sweden (34-30), Friday January 26. If we wondered about the face that the Blues were going to show against Sweden, when they had not yet faced an opponent of the same caliber in this Euro, Guillaume Gille’s men responded. But they were once again scared.

Faced with Sweden, who became their preferred opponent in the semi-final – they faced them at the 2021 World Cup (defeat), at Euro 2022 (defeat) and at the 2023 World Cup (victory) – the Blues nevertheless thought they had quickly extinguished all desire for revenge from the Swedes, who still had their setback from last year in their throats at home. Even slightly in difficulty in the first minutes of the match, the French did not panic. This is evidenced by a well-managed double numerical inferiority after the two-minute simultaneous expulsions of Hugo Descat and Luka Karabatic (8th and 9th minutes), during which they even managed to take a goal in advance.

It was then that Samir Bellahcene entered the game fully to disgust the Swedes, who went almost nine minutes without scoring. France took a seven-goal lead after a quarter of an hour of play (12-5). The French goalkeeper was well helped by an airtight defense, against which the reigning European champions had great difficulty finding intervals. But well ahead, for the Blues it was then necessary to be careful not to fall back into their mistakes by letting their opponents come back to score due to lack of concentration or haste in attack.

Elohim Prandi as a savior to snatch an almost unexpected extension

This comeback did not take place before the break (17-11), but after returning from the locker room. The Swedish storm, much more vengeful, swept away everything in its path to pick up the score (18-18 in the 39th minute), while the Blues had only scored one goal in nine minutes. Things got significantly worse when PSG’s Swedish goalkeeper, Andreas Palicka, decided to enter the match with three decisive saves from a seven-meter throw. The game remained close until the end, but with only eight goals scored in the second half, the Blues had a foot and a half in the small final. Trailing 27-26 at the final gong, they still had a free kick to take against the Swedish wall. The powerful Elohim Prandi took care of it and sent a powerful ball into the top corner of his club teammate, offering the Blues an extension and dashing the hopes of the Lanxess Arena won over to the Scandinavian cause (27-27).

A massive blow for the Swedes and an immediate boost for the Blues, who came out of nowhere, this unexpected equalizer changed the course of the match. More compact in defense and euphoric in attack, the Tricolores immediately took a three-goal lead and, this time, held their advantage, thanks in particular to a good Rémi Desbonnet, who came on at the end of the match. Ten years after their last successful Euro final, they will try to conquer, with the remaining energy, a fourth continental coronation against Denmark or Germany on Sunday. The first since 2014.