France made sure that they would be away from harm early on, breaking away on the scoreboard to take a seven-goal lead within the first half.
Czechia’s matters did not get any better after the break, as their right back Tomáš Piroch suffered an ankle injury and had to leave the court, after Jan Užek was sent off in the first half. Despite giving all they could on the court, they were never able to threaten their opponent, who took their first points in the competition.
H2H: 8-1-3
Top scorers: Elohim Prandi 6/7, Melvyn Richardson 6/8, Dylan Nahi 6/8 (all France), Petr Široký 6/7 (Czechia)
Goalkeeper saves: Charles Bolzinger 7/21, Remi Desbonnet 3/17 (both France), Tomáš Mrkva 5/28, Jan Hrdlička 6/24 (both Czechia)
POTM presented by Grundfos: Elohim Prandi (France)
- France put themselves in the driver's seat early on, scoring six unanswered goals within the first four minutes, prompting Czechia to take their first timeout
- Czechia made up for their deficit little by little, coming back within four after 20 minutes, thanks to a couple of saves by Tomáš Mrkva
- Czechia lost two players during the course of the game, as Jan Užek received a direct red card in the first half, while Tomáš Piroch suffered an injury at the start of the second half
- France’s advantage reached 10 goals in the 37th minute when captain Ludovic Fabregas scored his fourth goal
- the defending champions cruised to victory using all 16 players available; by scoring 42, they beat their previous record for most goals scored at an EHF EURO game, 41, which dated back to the 2014 final against Denmark
France look ready to take on the EHF EURO
Even though the score was pretty large, the result was one that had to be noticed for France, and for many reasons. For the first time in over 20 years, Nikola Karabatic was not in the squad at the start of the European competition, neither was the EHF EURO 2024 MVP Nédim Rémili. Did these absences go unnoticed? Pretty much, as France have a skilled centre-back in Aymeric Minne, able to take the wheel at the highest level.
Backed by their experience, France also made sure to make things easy for themselves, strengthening their defence right from throw-off to shake Czechia’s confidence. And once they got the ball rolling, France just had to hold onto it and take the two points.
I am satisfied because we won this first game, and it was the first step in this European Championship. It’s quite satisfying to see that all the players in the team had the opportunity to play and to play a good game. For a first match in this kind of tournament it’s really important.
We are of course really disappointed, we did not play good, especially in the second half. The start of our game was really bad, and against such a strong team, when you are led by six immediately, it’s hard to recover.
