what you need to know about the France-Sweden semi-final

France got out of a hell of a trap in their last decisive match of the main round of this Euro 2022 handball after showing enormous strength of character in the last moments against the Danes. Make way for Sweden by Jim Gottfridsson and Hampus Wanne, Friday January 28 (7:30 p.m.), a formidable opponent and in full revival, during the semi-final.

France and Sweden, between inconstancy and flashes

After Denmark, the Blues will face the other Scandinavian nation in the final stages of the tournament: Sweden. A team finally back among the very best in the world after having dominated major competitions in the 90s and at the beginning of this century (two world titles, four Euros, three Olympic silver medals, 13 podiums in total between 1990 and 2002). Silver at the last world championships in 2021, fifth at the Tokyo Olympics the same year and seventh at the last Euro in 2020, the Swedes are finding their colors again.

A Swedish team that mixes several generations – as on the side of the Blues – and who seems to find the right mix to find the peaks. However, the two future opponents present holes in their copy. Empty passages, defensive faults, offensive precipitation. A lack of performance, ultimately.

Presenting the same copy of four wins for one defeat, the French and the Swedes notably distinguished themselves in their last match of the main round. The former by narrowly beating Denmark, the latter by signing a fantastic comeback against their Norwegian rivals. Between perfect game phases and air pockets of several tens of minutes, the semi-final promises to be unstable between the two nations.

We are going to face a great opponent, who has also had his problems and been affected by the covid. We still have a nice armada in front of us. […] Our adversary has become again for a few years a team in the elite of the nations which count with a very talented young generation.

Guillaume Gilles

Jim Gottfridson/Nikola Karabatic, a battle of leaders

They are the two pillars that hold their building together. Sweden captain Jim Gottfridson was one of the key elements in their spectacular comeback against Norway in the final match. If he is not necessarily a scorer, the 29-year-old Swedish center half is a formidable defender.

Hard on the man, excellent passer, Gottfridson will have something to shake the Blues with, in particular, the chemistry that binds him to Hampus Wanne, Swedish top scorer and fourth overall in the competition (41 goals, 80% success rate).

In front of him, he will see one of the opponents he has already faced in the past with his Flensburg team in the Champions League: Nikola Karabatic. The charismatic leader of the France team, an obvious target for the opponents, will inevitably be the trump card of the tricolor game.

WOW❣️#HandbollsEM pic.twitter.com/9eToc9r4bz

— Erik Granqvist (@FreeHappyHabits) January 25, 2022

“Liveliness and experience” as keys to the match

If consistency over 60 minutes was the answer, it could also be a thing of the past. And especially in the last fifteen minutes against Denmark. Yes, as Jérôme Fernandez suggested after this comeback against Denmarkthe “mental trigger” is effective, then the French Olympic champions will have something to scare the Swedes, who are also champions of inconstancy.

For Denis Lathoud, former French international at the time of the “Barjots”, the keys to the meeting could reside in the intrinsic values ​​​​of the Blues, superior to those of their opponents. “We will have to play on speed, maintain good defensive mobility and take advantage of our explosive players who quickly go on the counter-attack to score easy goals”, begins the former international with 164 caps. And warn: “Still we will have to contain the quality of the Swedish players…”

In another register but nevertheless dangerous, the Swedes should impose from the beginning “a big physical challenge in defense”thinks Lathoud.

They have bigger and stronger builds than us. We have a small physical deficit, but more experience. They are a solid team, difficult to maneuver, but if both teams are complete, France are superior because they have a better bench depth.

Denis Lathoud

france info: sports

The other key to the match defended by the man who is now coach at SEHB Strasbourg (second division), is that of defensive efficiency, especially for the goalkeepers: “We know the importance of goalkeepers. When there is no stoppage we are behind, and as soon as there are 3 stops, we come back. It puts France directly back on the right track. “It’s a master key. Our goalkeepers are irregular and not always at the top. We’ll have to be in this game.”

Blues facing the Covid and through them

One of the guests – which is not a surprise, however – of the tournament is none other than the Covid-19 virus. And, we have to admit that he played a key role in this Euro, and in particular in the French clan. Captain Valentin Porte almost never arrived at this Euro, testing positive just before joining his comrades in Hungary.

Then, during the competition, Karl Konan, who returned against Montenegro, and Guillaume Gille, the coach, tested positive. Since then, his assistant Erick Mathé has taken over the reins of the Blues. The sick are back with Ludovic Fabregas (sick) and Dylan Nahi (flu).

So for this match remains the unknown of a possible return in time for Kentin Mahé, who tested positive a few days ago, just like the coach who could also find his place on the edge of the floor. Nicolas Tournat should not be, he who returned a positive test on the day of the match against Denmark.

Beyond this invisible and unpredictable adversary, remains the one we see. The obvious one. The match against Iceland and the first half against Denmark also showed it in broad daylight. Unable to recover during the match against the men of the ice field, the French however demonstrated the opposite in the second half against the Danish rivals.

This is where the problem lies. This virtual inability to achieve a solid match from start to finish. Defensively as offensively, the Blues have shown too many errors which, in the final stages, could prove fatal.

The bad memory of the 2021 world championships

The last Franco-Swedish confrontation remained across the throat of the Blues. It was already in a semi-final, but on the occasion of the Worlds in January 2021. Led from start to finish, the French had not found the solution against the Swedes to bow on a severe 26- 32.

This time, the arrangements will be completely different. Since then, France has (again) become Olympic champion, has found its executives and welcomes a new generation which is gaining momentum.