Croatia and France to Meet in Euros Handball Semi-final: What Can We Expect?

December 16, 2020 – The Croatian women’s handball team advanced to the semi-final of the European Championships with a victory against Germany on Tuesday. The semi-final duel between Croatia and France will be played on Friday at 6 pm.

Gol.hr reports that France and Norway are the biggest favorites for gold at the Euros. France came to the Championship as the current European champion, and this will be no easy task for Nenad Šoštarić’s team.

Reputable Lequipe presented the Croatia national team, and the journalists of the most widely read French sports newspaper pointed out the advantages of Croatia in the clash for the final.

“France, as first in the group, will meet Croatia in the semi-final, unexpectedly, as this is Croatia’s first semifinal in history,” begins Lequipe about Croatia.

“Croatia has never played a semi-final in its history, and since 2013, it has been known as a second-class handball team. They were constantly eliminated in the first round of big competitions, even at home in 2014,” the French journalist points out.

“Ćamila Mičijević, a left-winger from Metz, is the fourth-best scorer of the competition with 30 goals, five on average. Goalkeeper Tea Pijević reigns in front of the goal, defending 37% on average. Her catching the ball with one hand will be remembered as one of the cult scenes of the Euro.”

Lequipe points out that France is a big favorite but says they have to be careful because Croatia is experiencing euphoria, and there is no pressure for the medal. 

The last match between Croatia and France was back in 2007, and France celebrated 28:26.

France did not record a single defeat in the Euros, and only Russia managed to snatch a point from them.

In the first group stage, they defeated the host and the second semifinalist, Denmark, then Montenegro, and Slovenia. In the second round, apart from drawing against Russia, they defeated Spain and Sweden. Although this part of the draw was stronger, it should be noted that France recorded two victories only by one goal, against Montenegro and Spain, which gives Croatia hope. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

the fields marked with * are required

Email: *
First name:
Last name:
Gender:	Male Female
Country:
Birthday:	[DD] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 [MM] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 [YYYY] 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Please don't insert text in the box below!