France: One victory, two comebacks

Good news for France’s "Mission EHF EURO title": The defending champions didn’t only win their first test match against EHF EURO participants Norway very clearly 35:29 (20:10), but their two injured key players William Accambray and Michael Guigou made a welcome return to the court.

On Thursday evening both teams will come face-to-face in their last friendly before the start of the EHF EURO in Serbia.

Norway showed a strong opening period in Toulouse, but French goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer shut the shop after the 6:7 stage, and this signalled the end of the Norwegian dreams. France pulled away to 15:8 and 18:9, and Norway were close to a disaster at the break, when they were behind by ten goals.

The biggest applause was not for the goals, but for the two comebacks: after their injuries and the uncertainty about whether they could regain their fitness in time for the EHF EURO, left-winger Guigou and left-back Accambray made their returns.

After the break Norway fought back, found their rhythm in attack, and thanks to the eight goals of Erlend Mamelund they reduced the gap to 18:22 and 21:24. But again France improved in defence, and scored a 7:0 series to make it 34:27, which effectively decided the game. French top scorer was Nikola Karabatic with seven goals.

On Thursday evening, the teams meet again in Paris-Bercy – and history says that France is unbeatable in this Arena: since 17th June 2000 they have won all 31 matches played in Bercy.

Further information

Download the Official EHF EURO 2012 Playing Schedule (pdf)

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Find more information on the tournament on the official website www.ehf-euro.com/SRB2012/

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