It was with a very tight circle in the center of the field, just before kick-off, that Corinne Deacon’s Bleues launched their evening towards the last four. But before hoping to challenge Germany on Wednesday in the semi-finals, it was necessary to get rid of the reigning European champions and vice-world champions, supported by an impressive Oranje army. It was also necessary to break the glass ceiling of these five eliminations in the quarter-finals during the last five major competitions in which the French women’s team participated.
On the set of Canal +, the day before, Eugénie Le Sommer had recalled that each time, the Bleues had failed by nothing, after a penalty shootout or a sterile domination. The evening of this Saturday in July will have left the Bleues permanently on a thread, between capital performance and the risk of new eternal regrets, while the Dutch accumulated a dozen defensive miracles.
23 shots before finding the fault
Motivated as ever, united, the tricolor approached the meeting without complex. As against Iceland, they almost scored a new goal after only 43 seconds of play. But Geyoro couldn’t hit hard enough. At that moment, they had no idea that this was the first of a very long series of missed opportunities. And that they would need 23 shots before finding the opening in overtime!
To grieve the Blues, there was first the goalkeeper Daphne Van Domselaar, 22 years old and a selection before replacing the captain and usual holder Sari van Veenendaal injured in the first match. She caught the shot from Bilbault (18th), boxed that from Cascarino (22nd). On the other hand, she was beaten when Toletti, despite an empty goal in front of her, wanted to hit too hard and missed the target (23rd). Cascarino’s volley found the left post (27′). Then, it was the turn of defender Van der Gragt to push back on her line the close range recovery of Malard (37th) then that of Geyoro (41st).
The VAR offers a penalty to the Blue
We then found the number 3 of the Netherlands to divert in extremis from the head that of Renard (64th). Then, the goalkeeper pulled out all the stops with a strike from Bacha (65′) and a header from Renard (66′). The Dutch only provided one opportunity through Miedema who, alone but surprised, missed her recovery from a corner (57th).
A cross from Cascarino offered a goal ball to Geyoro but the Parisian did not fit her head (87th and that of Renard was diverted for a corner by the goalkeeper the last second (90th + 3).
During extra time, Clara Mateo perfectly served Diani who was broke in the box. VAR and penalty that Perisset, the future Chelsea player, transformed with guts (1-0, 102nd). On the bench, Corinne Deacon was careful not to exult. She made several changes to limit fatigue in order to find the Germans who will have two more days of recovery. The tricolor supporters sang a Marseillaise as full of relief as of dreams for the future.