2023-07-29 11:01:29
2023 Women’s Football World CupfileThe French team comes up against the South Americans for an attractive poster but clouded by doubts after their timid first match and the challenge of qualifying. Uncertain due to an injury, captain Wendie Renard will hold her place well.
The burst of pride or anguish. Badly embarked on its football World Cup, the French women’s team approaches without certainty the summit of its first round against Brazil, this Saturday July 29 at noon. In front of nearly 50,000 spectators in Brisbane, the Blues no longer really have the right to make mistakes after their inaugural draw against Jamaica (0-0).
Four years after the memorable France-Brazil World Cup at home, a 2-1 victory after extra time in the round of 16 in Le Havre, and twenty-five years after that of the men in the final in 1998, France has a lot to lose in this poster five stars.
A defeat against the Seleçao of the legend Marta would spell the end of the hopes of first place in group F and would condemn the Blue ones to a probable round of 16 against the dreaded Germans.
But that’s only the best-case scenario. Because the fear of a catastrophic elimination from the group stage, a first for twenty years, would suddenly be very real: the Blue would no longer have their destiny in hand, even in the event of victory against the modest Panama Wednesday in Sydney at the end of the first round.
On the other hand, a success against the South Americans, 8th nation in the world which has never beaten the Blues, would open the doors wide to the final phase, undoubtedly with the first place in the group.
“No stress”
In the middle of the summer crossover Saturday in France, coach Hervé Renard remains convinced of having taken the right route towards a first international trophy, the dream of a talented generation and an ambitious Federation. “There is no stress to be had”, nevertheless procrastinates Hervé Renard, while recalling the “particular resonance” of such a shock. “A World Cup is lived intensely. These are unforgettable moments, which can be fantastic, so you have to free yourself. It is up to us to be ourselves”.
But the baggage of the Bleues is quite heavy on the road to Brisbane Stadium: there are the doubts born of the first match, quite tasteless and worrying offensively, and above all the injuries. By adding up the absences and the physical glitches suffered since the start of the preparation, the French coaching staff could indeed constitute a hell of a starting lineup…
This Saturday, the French team will still be able to count at kick-off on its captain Wendie Renard, a defender with a significant impact from the height of her 33 years, 147 selections and four World Cups played. The Martiniquaise was uncertain for the shock, due to a “glitch” in the left calf since Monday.
The experience of the captain will not be too much against the Seleçao, at the head of the group after his demonstration against Panama (4-0). Rejuvenated and enthusiastic under the leadership of a renowned coach in women’s football, Sweden’s Pia Sundhage, the Brazilian team is counting on its revelation Ary Borges, three times goalscorer in the first match, and on the aura of its “queen” Marta (37), expected in the second half.
Opposite, the Kadidiatou Diani-Eugénie Le Sommer duo tries to summon the memory of France-Brazil in 2019, the emotional peak of the previous edition, one evening in June when nearly 12 million people had turned on their TV to see Amandine Henry deliver Les Bleues in overtime.
Four years later, without Henry injured, without extension and in front of two to three times fewer viewers, France dreams of the same outcome.
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