France come from behind to win against Sweden.

QUARTER-FINAL

France vs Sweden 33:30 (15:16)
Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Lille Métropole

The Pierre Mauroy Stadium had an apt send-off after three games of France 2017 in Lille in a match where the lead changed five times.

Luckily enough for the host side, the fifth and final time was when right back Nedim Remili struck his fourth goal to make it 27:26 to France in the 51st minute, part of a 4:0 run in four minutes (29:26).

Up until then, the game had looked nowhere near won for Didier Dinart’s side as the pressure of playing in front of another capacity crowd of 28,010 began to maybe tell as Sweden led twice – at the end of the first half and early on in the second.

Both sides opened up nervously with their first attacks until Kentin Mahe opened the scoring for France after 60 seconds – all nine of his eventual strikes was celebrated with a passion and ferocity which it appears he has special training for, such was the ferocity of his jubilation upon hitting the back of the net each time.

Seven two-minute penalties in total during the opening 30 minutes highlighted the physical nature of this clash as the tough French defence went up against a youthful and bright Swedish side, deadly on the counter.

But France went ahead by two in the ninth minute on a Mahe-converted fast-break (6:4) and Sweden had let a gap open. Step up Lukas Nilsson – the Swedish left back is one of the coveted youngsters which coach Kristjan Andresson has at his disposal and seemingly out of nothing, he rose above the French wall to keep his side in touch and stop the French from running away.

The hosts should have been three-goals up after 15 minutes, but spurned the chance after one of Mikael Appelgren’s saves in the Swedish goal and with shot accuracy at 91% and 80% for France and Sweden respectively at that point, any save was marked with a packed house screaming or deadly silence, depending on the colour of your shirt.

When Remili missed a fast-break in the 24th minute, Andresson played with an open goal due to another suspension and watched as his side brought the game level through Jim Gottfridsson (13:13) the French were not in their usual vintage form, and subsequently Nilsson, along with Gottfridsson, exchanged goals on a 3:0 run to put the Swedes up with five minutes remaining (14:13) for their first lead in the game.

The partisan crowd in the arena sang the French national anthem to inspire their troops but their side were lucky to not go into the half three goals down after a missed full-court shot and Cedric Sorhaindo easily breaking through to score on the buzzer (16:15 to Sweden).

Starting with the ball in the second half, Sweden had a chance to go two-up early on but turned the ball over. Thanks to France though, they were given two opportunities to score and they did when Albin Lagergren made it 17:15.

With Vincent Gerard replacing Thierry Omeyer in goal for France the game turned again. An Andreas Nilsson shot hit the bar and Remili again sunk home after bouncing the ball to take it past his defender (19:18) and Mahe backed it up with a 7m to give the French a two-goal lead again (20:18) – a subsequent 7m (21:19) was France’s sixth strike – as Sweden had yet to score from the spot.

The 101km strike from Luka Karabatic in the 41st minute saw the French extend their lead to three (21:19) and the crowd inside the stadium started to believe in the win, after being subdued.

Sweden would not lie down though first Simon Jeppsson equalised (23:23) and then Gottfridsson, after a misplaced Karabatic pass, scored with less than 14 minutes left to put his side 25:24 up, however, his laboured return to the Swedish defence was evidence of the work rate of his side as Dinart used his full bench to bring on the experienced Daniel Narcisse and Luc Abalo to finally put down their opponents – assistant coach Guillaume Gille later confirmed that the experienced Narcisse was brought on specifically because he knew how to play in the cauldron of noise, making it impossible for coaches to relay their instructions.

A 105km Nemili strike put France two up (28:26) again with 53 minutes on the clock which was enough for Andresson to take his third team time out but France did not let them back in again, and when Sweden overthrew a pass in the 56th minute (30:27 to France), Ludovic Fabregas started celebrating the win.

While Appelgren had to be told twice he had won the best player award at the end, France stayed on court for another 15 minutes to applaud their fans, including numerous sporting stars, who started singing ‘merci les bleus’ as they head to the French capital in search of glory. For Sweden, there is a lot to be excited about in future, but that is for another day.

Best Player of the Match presented by adidas: Mikael APPELGREN (SWE)

Quotes after the match:

Jerry TOLLBRING (SWE):

"We played good, but in the last moments we did not have the luck with us when we shot and the goalkeeper saved it.

"We started the second half with three two minutes against us, they got the lead and then we fought back and got the lead back with 10 minutes off. We want to go to the semi-finals and finals – everyone in the team wanted to win. We are a young team with young players and everyone is taking their chance. France have a really good team and a really good atmosphere – it was cool to play in that."

Didier DINART (FRA) coach:
"We had a problem with their fast game, the second half we were a little bit better with our turnovers. It was very, very difficult and I want to congratulate my players, they fought a lot."

Andreas NILSSON (SWE):
"It was a very tough game for 60 minutes. The defence played a good game but France are the better team."

Vincent GERARD (FRA):
"Sweden were great opponents and it was so difficult to beat them. After the Preliminary Round we knew Sweden were in good shape, for us the eighth player really helped us in the end to succeed. I am so happy to bring my contribution to the team this evening. Even in short periods we must give our best."