Accustomed to confidential atmospheres since the start of the World Cup, the French handball team will play on Thursday, January 30 (9 p.m.) against Croatia for its qualification for the final on hostile ground, at the Zagreb Arena in a repeat of the memorable final of the 2009 edition, which it won.
After several false starts, the Blues will finally get a taste of the atmosphere of the big nights, which they did not experience in Varazdin (Croatia) in the main round, where the vast majority of Hungarian supporters were reluctant to travel the 20 kilometers that separate them from the border to watch France-Hungary (37-30).
Nor on Tuesday in the semi-final against Egypt (34-33), won on a goal at the siren by Luka Karabatic in a deserted Zagreb Arena as soon as Croatia had qualified against these same Hungarians (31-30).
The French were given a taste of what awaited them on Thursday, since they heard the 15,200 spectators explode on the Croatian winning goal with a handful of seconds to go, while they were in the locker room.
They were also prepared after being booed on Tuesday, even in a stadium filled to a third of its capacity. “But we are used to this kind of atmosphere, we are made for it and we are really looking forward to tomorrow”, says Karl Konan. “Even if the atmosphere is against us, we take it, and that's what will stimulate us”, Julien Bos supports.
“Bullfighting atmosphere”
Both of them, no more than their 16 teammates, were present in this same Zagreb Arena in the final of the 2009 World Cup, won by the Blues (24-19) in an electric atmosphere.
A duel at the top of handball and at the height of the rivalry between the French and Croatians, spiced up by a match within the match between Nikola Karabatic and Ivano Balic, among the two best players in the world.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000A mano a mano that was blown out of proportion by the Croatian press and which was extended on the pitch when Balic came to challenge Karabatic head to head 15 minutes from the end while the two teams were tied (18-18).
“He started insulting me (in Serbo-Croatian, Karabatic's native language). I smiled instead of getting angry, I think that made them even more angry” Nikola Karabatic recounted in 2021 for Sport en France, evoking “one of the most heated matches” that he had played. After this Karabatic-Balic face-off, the Croatians will only score a small goal.
The current coach Guillaume Gille was on the field and remembers a “bullfight atmosphere, something crazy”. One of those “sequences where you have the impression of being just the foil for an evening that should end with the victory of the host country”.
“You start out as the little pebble in the (opponent's) shoe, you become the thing that stops them from going round in circles and eventually you make the opposing team and the whole room unscrew, so it's a great memory” he adds.
“Not on the applause meter”
Sixteen years later, the French and Croatians no longer have the same rivalry: the latter have entered the international ranks and have not crossed paths with Les Bleus in a knockout match since the 2013 World Cup (Croatia's quarter-final victory).
The Croatians are back in the last four of an international competition for the first time since 2020 after a complicated journey, with no room for error since their defeat against Egypt in the first round (28-24).
They overcame injuries, particularly at the back (Cindric, Karacic, Duvnjak), to dominate Iceland (32-26), Slovenia (29-26) and Hungary to reach the semi-finals, carried by their fans.
“We can write columns on the front page about Croatia's passion for handball. The fact remains that it will be a handball match, which will not be decided by the applause meter or the number of flags in the room” emphasizes Gille. Fortunately for the French team.