The French handball players, already Olympic champions in Tokyo four months ago, have now qualified for the final of the 2021 Handball World Championship in Granollers, Spain. This Friday, they narrowly won against Denmark 23-22, after a semi-final full of suspense.
Well muzzled by the Danish defense and carried out at the end of the first period, the French were all the first period behind in the score, penalized by loss of ball (ten out of the first thirty minutes) and a failed attack. With only two goals in the locker room, the French came out with less difficulty, thanks to the saves of Laura Glauser.
In the second half, it’s in the last quarter of an hour that the French women managed to turn the situation around. The Brestoise Alicia Toublanc gave the advantage at the start of the last five minutes (22-21), not to let the Danes come back in front. Cleopatra Darleux, coming into play for the second half, defeated Pedersen and sealed the victory at the end of the suspense.
France thus remains unbeaten in the semi-finals of the World Cup, and will experience a sixth final after 1999 (silver), 2003 (gold), 2009 (silver), 2011 (silver), and 2017 (gold). The players of Olivier Krumbholz maintain with this success the hope of achieving an international double in the space of four months after an Olympic coronation, which only the Danes (1996) and the Norwegians (2008) managed to achieve in the past (an Olympic-Euro double at the time).
In the final, the French women will challenge Sunday (16:30 GMT) the Norway, European champion last year, or the Spanish, vice-world champions in 2019, who compete in the evening (8:30 p.m.) for the second ticket to the final.