On Saturday afternoon, France and its Parisians played their second game of the Euro 2022 preliminary round in Hungary and Slovakia. After their opening win against Croatia (27-22), Les Bleus maintained their perfect record with a big victory over Ukraine (36-23).
While the match against the Croats was an even contest for a long while, France let it rip this time around against a Ukrainian side who had lost their opener against Serbia (31-23). Without Nikola Karabatic, but with Benoît Kounkoud (3 from 4) and Vincent Gérard (seven saves), the French immediately took control of the situation and led by six lengths at the break (17-11).
⏰ MI-TEMPS : 🇫🇷 17-11 🇺🇦
— Equipes de France de Handball (@FRAHandball) January 15, 2022
Les BLEUS sont devant à la pause notamment grâce au premier but de Thibaud Briet en sélection ! 🦾 🇫🇷
ALLEZ LES BLEUS 💙🤍❤️#BleuetFier #FRAUKR #EHFeuro2022 pic.twitter.com/lzrBOnJL53
In the second half, Guillaume Gille's men finished the job perfectly with a superb team prformance. Indeed, apart from Karl Konan, every other player of the squad managed to score, with notably a five out of five for former Parisian Dylan Nahi. With two wins in as many games, France are not yet qualified for the next round: they still have to get a positive result against Serbia on Monday evening. A defeat - by less than six goals - would also be enough to qualify.
(Credits: A. Gadoffre/TeamPics/PSG)