“Big favourites” France to face Swedish test

“They are big, big favourites. But we are not playing to lose. We are playing to win,” said Sweden’s coach, Norwegian Glenn Solberg, after their comfortable quarter-finals win against Qatar, 35:23.

Indeed, France are unbeaten in the tournament, winning all seven of their games, including a nail-biting 35:32 overtime win against Hungary in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

The French have also won nine of the past ten meetings between the two sides, including the last six at the IHF Men’s World Championship.

France vs Sweden 18:30 CAT

Ten years ago, at Sweden 2011, France and Sweden met in the semi-finals, with “Les Experts” taking a commanding win, 29:26, on the way to their fourth world title. Left wing Michael Guigou scored eight times, while line player Bertrand Gille added eight goals.

Now 38, Guigou, who is reaching the zenith of his career, is the only member of that 2011 team at Egypt 2021.

He’s had his best outing at Egypt 2021, scoring six goals in the win against Hungary, which leaves him needing only 15 goals to become the fourth player to score 1000 goals for the French national side after Jerome Fernandez, Nikola Karabatic and Frederic Volle.

But Guigou is not the only one who knows a thing or two about winning games against Sweden.

French coach Guillaume Gille might have missed Sweden 2011, but was on the court one year later, helping France win the Olympic gold at London 2012. Gille was instrumental in France’s win in the final against Sweden, 22:21. Guigou was also France’s best scorer in that game, putting eight past the Swedish defence.

Now, Gille is at his first international tournament as a coach and expectations are high. Anything but another win on their way to the final would be deemed a failure, as France have the opportunity to be in the final for the fifth time in the last seven competitions.

“Sweden have key players who are not here in the championship, but somehow managed to get here, therefore they should not be counted out. I have watched zero minutes of them playing, but I am sure they are very good,” said French playmaker Kentin Mahe to ihf.info after the win against Hungary.

Despite facing Norway, Portugal and Hungary on their way to the semi-finals, France will face one of the most consistent attacks in the competition.