Just four months ago ROC and France met in the final of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with the French taking gold, reversing the result of four years earlier, at Rio 2016.

In Granollers on Thursday (9 December) the two teams start their main round campaigns of the 2021 IHF Women’s World Championship knowing that by the time they face each other once again (Monday 13 December), they could already be in the last eight.

RHF vs Slovenia 15:30 CET

RHF, like France, have won all three of their games so far at Spain 2021 and open up the second day of main round action at the Palau d’Esports against a Slovenia side which is coming together nicely in their first championship under coach Dragan Adzic.

“He motivates us every day and this is very important for us,” said Slovenia centre back Elizabeth Omoregie about her coach. 

“He puts our confidence high. He shows that he believes in us in every single second and that everybody is important in the team no matter who you are and what name you have. When the games come, you really know that you have the coach support, that he believes and trusts in you 100%.

“It doesn't matter about the other team even if you play against France, the Olympic champions or whatever. It's only on us how we start how we believe in ourselves. Every time he says: ‘the sky's the limit’, so this is it.”

For RHF, they take a three-game winning streak into the main round, with an impressive 32:22 win against Serbia last time out.

“Slovenia can surprise any team,” said RHF coach Liudmila Bodnieva about their opening opponents in Granollers, Slovenia whose captain Ana Gros plays her club handball alongside eight of the RHF squad players at Spain 2021 at CSKA Moscow.

“Slovenia is primarily Ana Gros,” said RHF playmaker Milana Tazhenova about the forthcoming duel. “But our plus is that the Russian league players, especially the CSKA teammates, know her manners well.”

Bodnieva also introduced Astrakhanochka line player Kseniia Zakordonskaia against Serbia, with the 18-year-old making her debut and also scoring – all of this after a late call up to the squad on the eve of Spain 2021.

“I found out that I got into the team after lunch, at the team meeting,” explained Zakordonskaia to rushandball.ru about hearing she was going to make her debut on the day of the match.

“I was very happy, although, of course, I was worried. But I calmed down when I went to warm up and after that I thought about how to get into the game as soon as possible.”

For the experienced right wing Iuliia Managarova, she welcomed the injection of youth into the squad. 

“The young ones came, they have enthusiasm, joy and their own jokes,” she said. “It’s something different and that's great.”

For Gros, she is well aware of the challenge ahead.

“RHF are a handball superpower and we have a difficult match ahead of us,” she told the Slovenian Handball Federation website. “Like everyone else, it is a great honour for Russians to play for the national team and our rivals are favourites.

“But they are not invincible – they have a young team, with slightly less experienced players and maybe we can look for our opportunities in this direction.”

Montenegro vs Serbia 18:00 CET

Montenegro's Jovanka Radicevic continues her unbelievable World Championship record having played in all 40 of their games in the competition and scoring in 39 and Serbia will be hoping to get the better of their rivals, having lost to them (26:28) in the 5/6 placement match at the 2019 IHF Women’s World Championship in Japan and thus losing out on a place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Qualification Tournaments.

That fifth place for Montenegro was their best-ever ranking in the competition but since then they have had changed coach twice with Montenegrin legend Bojana Popovic overseeing a disappointing Tokyo campaign but, with the help of former teammate Radicevic, binding a squad together of young players, new players and missing key players through injury or national team retirement.

“We know the opponent and we have a difficult match ahead of us,” said Serbia coach Uros Bregar to rss.org.rs. “They play either with two line players or with two fast midfielders. With their aggressive defence, I expect a very difficult match.

“The biggest danger is certainly Jovanka Radicevic, one of the best right-wingers in the world, the best scorer. We have to pay a lot of attention to her, to stop her counterattacks and to prevent the passes that are intended for her so that she does not play.”

Serbia left back Ivana Mitrovic knows Montenegro very well, playing her club handball for Buducnost alongside a number of Montenegro national team players.

“I know that they are characterised by a rough, aggressive defence,” she said. “But the team has changed, there are a lot of new players, promising players. On the other hand, the strength of the team should not be underestimated. I am familiar with their system of work and the philosophy of work in Buducnost and in the Montenegrin national team.”

The teams have met three times before in World Championship history with Montenegro unbeaten thanks to a 28:28 draw in the preliminary round at Denmark 2015, a 31:29 win in the eighth-finals of Germany 2017 and that 2019 5/6 placement victory.

France vs Poland 20:30 CET

Not much can be said about France that is not already known – the Olympic champions come into the main round with a perfect record and face a Poland side on zero points and with next to no chance of progressing through.

But that does not deter Poland coach Arne Senstad. 

“We can show everyone that we play really good handball and fight until the last minutes,” he said ahead of the clash to zprp.pl.

“Defence is a decisive factor for us, but I also think we have a lot of good attack actions, so don't worry about that because we can score goals. 

“The Olympic Champions from Tokyo are certainly a tough rival and now we continue our work and development. The girls show a good attitude every time and we are looking forward to the next matches.”

France coach Olivier Krumbholz has slight concerns about his sides’ effectiveness from 9m as they scored just three times from 23 attempts from that distance against Montenegro, but the master technician, like he has always done, will have worked hard in training to correct that and the match against Poland is a chance to show the results.

Photo: RFEBM / J. Navarro