France beat yesterday evening 30:21 Luxembourg in an away game counting for the qualification groups of Euro 2010. Nikola didn´t play at all, being left out to cure his injury.
In front of almost 5000 spectators, record in Luxembourg, Nikola was the main attraction, signing continuously autographs and making pictures with the fans. His team met his expectations only for 8 minutes, being in lead with 6:1. What happened shorthly after, no one could imagined even if France was, apart Niko, also without the Gille´s brothers, Girault, Abati und Burdet, the last three retired after Olympics. In any case, in the roster were eight Olympic Champions and other players that the opponent would love to count on...
Incredible, but true, the hosts took the lead, 8:7/19. and 10:9/23.! Even if the visitors dominated the last 5 minutes of the first half and went in the break with 15:13 for them, their performance was so poor...
In the second half, the real difference between the best National Team in the world and its "midget" rival was more clear: 20:17/39., 24:17/47., 26:21/54. The final whistle brought a logical win, 30:21, but the way that it was obtained left nothing but a bad taste in mouth.
On Sunday, France will challenge Czech Republic in Brno and probably Nikola will have to postpone the autographs and the pictures after the game, because even if he feels pains, its teams needs his leader, at least for a short period.
Statistics
Luxembourg - France 21:30 (13:15)
Luxembourg: Majerus M. (54 min, 13 saves), Hensen (6 min., 2 saves) ; Wagner, Müller (4/9), Scholten (0/1), Sarac (0/1), Gulbicki, Majerus T. (0/1), Link (1/2), Decker (4/8), Bock (2/4), Labonte, Schmidt, Poeckes (6/16, 7m: 3/3), Malano (4/6), Rech. Coach: Stot
France: Omeyer (30 min., 10 saves), Karaboué (30 min., 7 saves) ; Fernandez (4/6, 7m: 2/2), Dinart (0/1), Narcisse (1/3), Roiné (4/9), Abalo (3/4), Sorhaindo (1/2), Guigou (4/5, 7m: 1/1), Bosquet (1/3), Ostertag (6/7), Detrez (3/3), Paty (2/5), Guilbert (1/3). Coach: Onesta
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