The last day has arrived. Not that of disco, but of the stay of the Bleues in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, the place of the base camp which they have occupied with pleasure, in the heart of the English countryside, since July 5. The 22 players, since Marie-Antoinette Katoto’s package, and Corinne Deacon’s staff will take the bus on Tuesday to Milton Keynes, further south.
In the meantime, after the celebration of a quarter-final won on Saturday evening against the Netherlands (1-0), then the recovery, the Blues have, this Monday, completely switched to the semi-final against Germany, this Wednesday (9 p.m. on TF1 and Canal +). One last time, they joined the splendid training ground adjoining their hotel.
The physical challenge for the French will be not to suffer from the two additional days of recovery which Germany has benefited from since its quarter-final against Austria. The whole tricolor group was fit on Monday. Particular vigilance was given to the right side Ève Périsset, whose adductors had whistled at the end of the confrontation against the Dutch. At the end of the match, the future Chelsea player, who had scored the qualifying penalty, was reassuring. In the event of a glitch, Corinne Deacon knows she can count on Marion Torrent to replace her.
This is also the strength of the France team, as the coach had underlined at the end of the quarter-final: with “a Marion Torrent who started a few months ago and who is now eve Périsset’s understudy today, we see all the energy she put in when she entered. There is no bitterness, on the contrary. The girls are there, they are part of this group. And this group wants to achieve something together, that’s its strength today. »