Pour Valentin Porte, les Français se sont pris les pieds dans le tapis. Maxppp – Montage ML
Former player of the French team with 198 caps, the captain of Montpellier Handball Valentin Porte is the main witness of Midi Libre for this World Cup. He looks back on the failure of the Blues in the semi-final of the Handball World Cup against Croatia (28-31), Thursday January 30.
What analysis do you make, the day after the elimination of France in the semi-final ?
It's great because I talked about it in my column before the match, I said what was going to happen. That if we play our game, if we're not too stupid, there won't be any problems. The only problem there could be is if we start playing static, carrying the ball, starting to dribble, not putting on any speed. That could be very complicated. They did that all match and so it was.
You were crazy in front of your television ?
No, I wasn't crazy. I quickly felt that it was going to be very complicated. If I said all that before the match, I tell myself that they must have said it too. It was certain that we shouldn't play like that. The problem is that you get into a vicious circle. You start to miss, to fall behind. You want to force to come back quickly. Except that you get tangled up in the wrong tactics. The guys opposite you gain confidence… You get into a nasty circle. What's even more unfortunate is that that was really the problem. Offensively, the Croatians are still not good. It hasn't been since the start of the competition, it still wasn't good on a set attack. It was really weak… (He sighs) There was a way. But there, you got caught by the throat. You fell into the trap and got tangled up.
Read also: REPLAY. France-Croatia: too soft, the Blues were eaten by Croatians excited by their public
Are you disappointed with this result ?
Yes, I am disappointed because Croatia is far from being the best team in the world. Normally, this French team, with the experience it must have, you should not fall into that. Tactically, you have to find the weapons to beat this team. It is annoying because you are ruining a final. Maybe I am wrong, but the Croatians are going to concede 15 in the final. It is ruined.
Whose responsibility is it?
I can't tell you too much, since I am not inside. I don't know how they prepared the match. I don't know what the emphasis was on. From what I have seen, it is always common. But tactically, it wasn't the right plan. I don't know if tactically, they had said to themselves that they were going to carry the ball and get tangled up in the Croatian defense.
Afterwards, we didn't have any saves either. The Croatian attack was weak but they scored goals from 9-10 meters on shots that seemed to be quite identified. It's a shame that we didn't have the two or three saves that could have kept us alive a little. All that together and the facts of the game… But we knew it was going to happen like that.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000We're in Croatia against Croatia. We know it's going to be complicated. The Croatians got into their rhythm, they wanted to trick things a little, slow down the match, add to it… It's always a bit the same thing: you expect to be attacked, to have an atmosphere. But when you're on the field at that moment, you don't expect that. You may tell yourself this, but you don't expect it to be this violent.
Isn't there a big questioning to be had?
Yes, of course. There is always room for questioning. So yes, you can say that in the competition, it was well controlled compared to the Olympics, so you found something. But this result is not surprising given how the game evolved as the competition progressed.
I was afraid that we would transform into a game like we saw in the semi-final. The problem is that I saw a French team, in the first 2-3 group matches that was nice, where the ball was a little more alive, where everyone was a little more involved.
And the more it went on, the tighter it got. I think that the big work to do is that, it's to say to ourselves: “But guys, when we play on the move, when we release the ball, when the ball is alive and it goes fast and we sweep the field with speed, we are very hard to stop, even unstoppable. But individually, we are much weaker than collectively”.
Facing them, it was a Croatian team that, once again, showed very good things and which, itself, had a catastrophic start to the competition. But when the knockout matches arrived, they said anyway, basically, we won't be the best team, we don't play very well. But on the other hand, we are going to put that extra soul, we are going to do what we do best.
And then in the knockout matches, it made the difference. They beat Hungary miraculously, they beat the French team which, I think and I continue to say, is superior to this Croatian team, if, obviously, we play differently. But they are capable of making everyone doubt. I don't know who will play in the final, but surely Denmark, and I think there will be no match.
The format of this World Cup does not also explain this poor performance ?
No, but that is completely bogus excuses, for having been in these competitions for a certain number of years. It doesn't mean anything. Internally, we have all the weapons to beat this team. For me, yesterday was a mistake. They made a tactical mistake, they completely tripped themselves up. At least, in the first half.
In the second half, of course, you show different things and you come back. Except that the damage is done and Croatia is at a distance to slow down the game. And that kind of thing makes you spin when you're on the field. There's singing in the stands, the guys stay on the ground… It's horrible. When you get into that situation and they play like that, it's horrible, it's very hard.
How do you get yourself remobilized for the third place match? ?
There are surely some who will be disgusted and who will say that third or fourth is the same. It's still a medal to go for, it's different from a match for fourth or fifth place. But there, in these things, the few matches that I had to play like that, you always have to find motivation.
Because bodies and minds are going to be bruised. All the accumulated fatigue is going to come crashing down a little. It's going to be very hard to remobilize, it always is when you suffer a failure like that, so close to the goal. Guys like Thibaud (Briet), Aymeric (Minne), who have won very few medals, or even no medals in the French team, have to say: “Guys, this is a medal to go for anyway”.
It reminds me of Raphaël Cocheteux at the time, We didn't want to, we were disgusted. He told us: “Guys, I know you have 800 medals. But I've never had one. And I'd like to win that one”. And that remobilized everyone. We need to become aware. It’s a medal to go for. Getting a medal after the Games would be great. They have to motivate themselves as they want, as they can.
The only problem is that the probability that they play Portugal is quite high anyway. And that Portugal, for them, would be a match for their first world medal. They won’t have too much difficulty finding motivation so it’s going to be a very complicated match.
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