France completed the first round of the World Championship with a third victory in as many matches, this Tuesday in Ljubljana (Slovenia): 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-22) once morest Cameroon who had the merit of seizing the slightest opportunity and did better than defending himself, contrary to what the dry final score might suggest.
The French Olympic champions having already qualified for the round of 16 (it will be necessary to wait until the end of this initial round before knowing the identity of the opponent, as well as the place) before this game, Andrea Giani, the Italian coach of the Blues , logically lined up a second starting six, with the exception of Barthélémy Chinenyeze. A six “bis” that many countries would like to have, like Stephen Boyer, best scorer of the day (19 points) on the French side.
Especially since Benjamin Toniutti, the captain, delivered a part of very good quality in the pass. While torturing the African reception with its floating services, one of the keys to French success. Still, as soon as they released the pressure a little, were less rigorous, the Blues left the opportunity to Yaoussia Kavogo and company to play their power and thus prevent them from unfolding.
A release without consequence
“You have to take this team seriously. I did not really like the faults in attack in one once morest one. We have to look for tactical solutions, not just power, and above all respect the opponent,” ordered Giani, at the microphone of the International Federation, while France was leading 2-0. A far from useless reminder: in the third set, Cameroon led until mid-set (2-4, 6-9, 10-13), taking advantage of the tricolor imperfections, with services in the net in particular. But it was by bringing out a winning floating serve on Kavogo, decidedly not comfortable on this kind of face-off like his team, that Yacine Louati helped put France back in the lead in the score (15- 14).
The end of the set and of the match were clearer, Trévor Clévenot (entered the 3rd set for Kevin Tillie) converting the second match point, at post 4, on a pass from Antoine Brizard, who came as a relay from Toniutti on the end. “It’s complicated this kind of match once morest such a physical team, especially two days following Slovenia (victoire 3-2). We also had to give rhythm to the players who had been on the bench until then,” explained Kévin Tillie, still precious, “We did a good job of staying focused once morest a Cameroon team that had nothing to lose. Now we don’t know who or where we’ll play (in the round of 16) but it’s a medal that our team is missing, we will try to prepare as well as possible, knowing that it is difficult to win several competitions in a row”, added the receiver-attacker.
