The victory put France on top of the group C table after the opening day of the EHF EURO 2024, where they sit level on two points with Spain, but with a greater goal difference in their favour.
With the round 1 game, France stalwarts Estelle Nze Minko and Grace Zaadi Deuna both hit the 40-game mark at the EHF EURO. Nze Minko added four goals to her career tally as she chases first place on France’s all-time top scorer list at the EHF EURO, now sitting 20 goals behind leader Alexandra Lacrabère.
GROUP C
France vs Poland 35:22 (18:10)
- the strength of France’s defence and the speed of their counter attacks were immediately on show, as they scored three goals following steals and another three fast breaks on top of that to lead 10:4 at the 10-minute mark
- France’s Laura Glauser — the All-star Team goalkeeper at both the 2023 World Championship and 2024 Olympic Games — recorded a save rate of 44 per cent in her 30 minutes on court and earned the award for Player of the Match, presented by Grundfos
- France line player Pauletta Foppa’s goal for 13:5 in the 15th minute was her 50th at the EHF EURO, in what is already the 23-year-old’s third participation in the event
- by the end of the first half, France had seen all their players on court except second goalkeeper Hatadou Sako, who came on for the second period and matched Glauser’s exceptional performance with a save rate of 43 per cent
- by half-time, when France led by eight goals, the outcome was already clear, and the current world champions and 2024 Olympic silver medallists fell just one goal short of their record for biggest EURO win — 35:21 versus Romania in 2022
No opening game curse in sight
“We all know that France struggle every time to enter into the competition” — centre back Grace Zaadi Deuna’s words at the media call prior to EHF EURO 2024 throw-off were long forgotten on Thursday night, as everything clicked perfectly into place. The team do indeed have a record of needing to build through a tournament after some struggles in the opening match, including at the 2023 IHF Women’s World Championship, when they beat Angola by only one goal in the last seconds then went on to raise the trophy.
When France won Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, they started with a one-goal win against Hungary. When they took the EHF EURO 2018 and 2017 World Championship titles, both campaigns started with losses, to Russia and Slovenia, respectively. Zaadi’s concerns were certainly not unfounded, but her other words might ring ominously now: “It’s more or less a good thing because we know that we can develop and increase the quality of our playbook.”
If France are only going to get better from here, develop their playbook as Zaadi said, they are a dangerous force indeed.
It is important for everyone to have confidence and it's easier when the team did well. I am so proud of some of the girls, like Clarisse Mairot, who is playing her first competition and she scored. We can count on every player in the team and it is nice to know that for the next matches.
I would love the result is better, but we are not giving up. We have two more games to go in the group phase. We are looking for a new game on Saturday and I hope it's going to be better.
