Handball World Cup: France wins against Austria and finishes its preliminary round perfectly

Face au jeu à sept contre six des Autrichiens, les Français ont su bien défendre. FFHB – ICON SPORT

L’équipe de France a bouclé son tour préliminaire du Mondial 2025 par une troisième victoire en trois matches face à l’Autriche (35-27), samedi 18 janvier à Porec (Croatie), finissant en tête de leur groupe avec quatre points avant le tour principal.

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Les Bleus will begin the second phase, starting Tuesday in Varazdin in northern Croatia, with four points on the board after finishing top of Group C, ahead of the Austrians (2 pts in the main round). The latter competed more than Qatar and Kuwait, who were swept away (37-19 and 43-19).

But, handicapped by three major absences on the back base, their two left-handers (Janko Bozovic and Boris Zivkovic) and their star right-hander Nikola Bilyk (Kiel), they did not manage, despite the noisy support of their supporters, to push the French to their limits as much as at Euro 2024, where they led at half-time (16-15, defeat 33-28 in the end).

The French team was never led this time, except for the very first minutes (2-1). Leading by four goals at half-time (19-15), they experienced a slight lull after the break, when Austria came back to within two lengths (19-17), then had another chance to reduce the gap to two units (21-18, 38th).

Bolzinger's great debut

A chance annihilated by a point-blank save from MHB goalkeeper Charles Bolzinger, who marked his entry into the World Cup with a convincing performance. Promoted to the match sheet after the withdrawal for the rest of the competition, announced a few hours before the match, of Samir Bellahcene injured in the right thigh, the tall (1.98 m) and young goalkeeper (24 years old) stopped a penalty as soon as he came into play (25th).

He did not come out again, making some decisive saves at the end of the match to preserve the gap acquired by exploiting in particular, by several goals in the empty net, the Austrians' decision to play seven against six (25-19, 44th then 30-24, 52nd). Dylan Nahi had a blast in this game situation (5/6 in the end). The Blues were also able to count on the contribution on the back base of Dika Mem and Thibaud Briet (6/8 each).