French resistance hailed
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ByEurosport
Published 31/01/2007 at 13:13 GMT
Eight-goal hero Luc Abalo praised the French rearguard after a momentous 21-18 quarter-final victory against Croatia. Despite his epic haul up front, Abalo said Les Bleus' defence and ability to control the clock were the keys to defeating the tournament
HANDBALL 2007 World Champs 2007 France-Croatia Nikola Karabatic, Jerome Fernandez Bertrand Gille rearguard
Image credit: Reuters
"We didn't have any choice. We had to turn up or else the competition would have ended there," Abalo told L'Equipe.
"We were possible a bit more motivated than they were. The game is all about desire - I was not out there alone.
"In defence, the whole team was there.
"For my part, I was lucky enough to get a lot of ball that ended up out wide, because there defence was very tight, particularly in the centre."
Having taken a 10-9 lead into half time, Claude Onesta's time were able to stifle their opponents in a low-scoring encounter that made up in intensity what it lacked in flair.
"In the second half we were able to control the rhythm and run down the clock," said Abalo.
"I don't know who doubted us, but we never doubted ourselves at all."
France stay in Cologne for their semi-final against hosts Germany on Thursday, and Abalo conceded that the 19,000-strong crowd would make life difficult for them.
"It will be very difficult. The crowd will definitely influence the match, and we need to remain concentrated," he said.
Follow live scoring of both of Thursday's semi-finals on eurosport.com, with Germany v France at 17:30 CET (16:30 GMT) and Denmark v Poland at 20:00 CET (19:00 GMT).
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