The Blues begin their preparation with a defeat in Germany

On the road to the Olympic double, the French team started with a setback: the Blues lost their first preparation match against Germany (35-30), this Saturday in Dortmund.

The French team will have only one chance to gain victory and confidence before its opening match against Denmark on July 17 at the Arena Paris Sud: Wednesday against Croatia in Chartres, the only other friendly match on the schedule.

Tribute to Karabatic

The Blues, who will also play an unofficial familiarisation match on 23 July against Slovenia, passed the test they had come to gauge themselves for on Saturday away and in front of 15,000. Opposite, the Germans were determined to get the skin of the European and Olympic champion, after paying tribute to Nikola Karabatic (who played 4 years in Kiel), who was applauded by the public after a short clip retracing his career.

A test that is all the more difficult to take up away from home and in the absence of the two left-handed and playmakers of the back base, Dika Mem and Nedim Remili, injured in the left thumb and an ankle.

Major absences

Remili’s absence deprived the Blues of the special relationship he has with pivot Ludovic Fabregas, his partner also at Veszprem (Hungary) who waited until the second half to open his account.

In the absence of regular playmaker Remili, coach Guillaume Gille mainly alternated between Aymeric Minne, a substitute at the Olympics, and Kentin Mahé, who was not selected but was recalled while Mem was unavailable. Minne made his mark finishing in the first half (four goals), but it was with Mahé in distribution that the Blues, often punished for their defensive withdrawals, got back into the game.

Lack of precision

However, they lacked the precision to get back to level, with Dylan Nahi missing the target alone on the counterattack against goalkeeper Andreas Wolff to get back to one goal before half-time (15-16, 27^e15-19 at half-time). Or Hugo Descat missing the equalizing ball in the corner (23-24, 44^e), like Mahé shooting over in the process, while the Blues had come back within range thanks to a good defense and two consecutive saves from Rémi Desbonnet.

Gille played his two starting goalkeepers for one period each, the first for Gérard and the second for Desbonnet, who did a little better, notably stopping a penalty. See you on Wednesday for them too.