The incredible series of obstacles continues for the France team. Guillaume Gille’s players, who were to meet Egypt in a friendly, may not play these two matches. Faced with the health situation which continues to deteriorate in France, the Egyptian federation requested the postponement of this double confrontation, information not confirmed for the moment by the FFHB. It is therefore without any preparation match in the legs that the Blues might attack the Euro, from January 13 once morest Croatia.
Since the start of the internship at the Maison du Handball in Créteil, where these two meetings were to take place, the setbacks have been piling up for the French team. First there was the package of Nedim Remili, then those of Jean-Jacques Acquevillo and Timothey N’Guessan, all on physical glitches. Friday, the staff announced the withdrawal of Luka Karabatic, the Parisian not yet having sufficiently recovered from his injury contracted with his club in early December. Also, barring a turnaround, Vincent Gérard’s package should follow, the PSG goalkeeper having been affected by a family tragedy shortly before Christmas. Finally, Montpellier’s Arthur Lenne was also injured.
A dramatic event darkened the picture in the early morning hours of New Year’s Eve, with the assault of Elohim Prandi in a street in the capital. The condition of the PSG player, who received six stab wounds in the back around 6 a.m. near the Champs-Élysées, fortunately no longer worries caregivers, as his club said in a press release. The left-back, who had already missed the World Cup last year and then the Games, will not be traveling to Hungary.
Finally, as if to drive the point home, a wave of positive Covid-19 cases swept over the group of Blues. In addition to Elohim Prandi, who was coming out of isolation, Hugo Descat, Nikola Karabatic, Aymeric Minne and Dylan Nahi were also affected and did not participate in the first phase of the camp either. Their return will be recorded when they have passed a negative test, probably at the beginning of the week.
The last player to be affected is the Nantes native Théo Monar, called in to make up for the defection of Luka Karabatic… and who had to turn around when he arrived in Créteil this weekend.
