Betrayed by a nonexistent attack, OGC Nice Handball misses out on its semi-final. Toulon-St-Cyr wins 20-17 and will face Brest in the French Cup final at Bercy on May 21. Next goal for the Niçoises is the first-leg semi-final against Metz on Saturday.
This is what is called “missing the match.” OGC Nice Handball had a golden opportunity to play for a second national final in a month. Hosting the neighboring Toulon side did not seem like an insurmountable obstacle, yet it turned out to be a wall. Inefficient in attack, the Niçoises missed their match, especially their second half.
It did not require a fortune teller to predict a closed match. A French Cup semi-final, with the girls just 60 minutes away from Bercy, two teams with defensive profiles—all signs pointed to a tight contest. The visitors opened the scoring after 1’40”, and it took almost 8 minutes to see the first goal for Nice, scored by Karen Knutsdottir after two crossbars. The semi-final finally picked up after the first quarter of an hour with Toulon-StCyr taking the lead (2-4, 15th minute).
The Darleux and Rocha Show
It was without counting on the duo Darleux-Rocha. Three times, the international goalkeeper made an exceptional throw into the hands of Samira Rocha, who finished it off. In the 7-meter throws, the Icelandic international, Knutsdottir, was impeccable with a 4/4. Four minutes before halftime, OGC Nice Handball created the biggest gap of the match with a beautiful counterattack by Manon Le Bihan (10-7). The Toulon players closed the gap towards the period’s end, after Palsdottir’s two-minute exclusion, but Nice led at halftime (10-9).
When numerical advantages look like numerical disadvantages…
It took just two minutes for the Toulon players to regain the lead, thanks to a 4-0 run straddling both halves. Nice scored a goal from time to time, often with 4 to 5 minutes passing without a single shot. Aissatou Kouyaté held up the OGCN Handball team with 4 goals in just over 10 minutes, but Toulon maintained the lead (12-13, 38th then 15-16, 45th).
The 7-meter throw by Knutsdottir in the 47th minute was the 17th and last goal for the red and black. For long minutes, the Azureans could not find a breach in the Toulon defense, even with a player more on three occasions. Worse, at 7 against 6, they conceded a goal each time. The visitors took the lead 10 minutes before the buzzer and never let it go. The Charles-Ehrmann hall, won over to the Varoise cause, could exult.
The Niçoises fell short one step before Bercy, missing a French Cup final in front of nearly 10,000 people. What remains for Sébastien Gardillou’s protégés is a championship semi-final starting Saturday (6:30 PM) before the return match in Lorraine (date not set).
