2023-07-23 11:32:35
2023 Women’s Football World Cup dossierThe French team begins its first match this Sunday, July 23 with one objective: to reach the semi-finals. But the players of Hervé Renard approach the competition in Australia after the last complicated months and cascading injuries.
The whistle will sound at lunchtime in France, and in the middle of a winter evening in Australia. Refreshed by the arrival of coach Hervé Renard, but diminished by numerous injuries, the French women’s team launches its World Cup this Sunday, July 23, at noon French time. The match between them and Jamaica, played in Sydney, is broadcast on the M6 channel.
This will be the first meeting for an international title that Les Bleues have never won. At the start of this inaugural match, the objective was clearly announced: to reach the semi-finals, as in 2011. And thus do better than at the 2019 World Cup, played at home, where the France team failed in the quarter-finals against the Americans (2-1).
“The first thing is to believe in it, to mobilize. Not just saying it to yourself, but doing it,” said Hervé Renard. The former coach of Saudi Arabia is certain of the potential of his troops, often victorious in club, in particular the Lyonnaises in the Champions League.
Against a Jamaican team reputed to be athletic and carried by a world-class striker – Khadija Shaw – the French team is not the favourite. She is notably undermined by a series of injuries. Several players have already forfeited – forwards Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Delphine Cascarino, midfielder Amandine Henry, and defender Griedge Mbock. And the last few days have got the better of two other holders: Selma Bach twisted her left ankle at the end of the last preparation match and Elisa De Almeida will not take part in this Sunday’s match because of a “calf injury”.
The defense will therefore rely even more on captain Wendie Renard, who is playing her 4th World Cup at just 33 years old. The team and the supporters are not the only ones waiting for a flamboyant first match: the broadcasters are counting on a successful introduction by the Habs to boost their audiences, inevitably affected by the jet lag. Faced with the challenge, the captain of the Blue wanted to be a philosopher: “We never lose, we learn”.
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