Les Bleues take their mark. With its victory against Italy (5-1), the French team offered a convincing and almost successful entry into the running, Sunday July 10, taking pleasure in the field. Percussive and successful in the first half, the French slowly dropped in pace after the break, until conceding an avoidable goal. If many lights are already green, others are yet to be reviewed. Franceinfo: sport takes stock of the lessons of France-Italy.
Geyoro, Queen of Middle Earth
The star of the meeting is her. Author of a hat-trick, voted best player of the match, Grace Geyoro splashed the lawn of New York Stadium with her talent, and proved that she was the essential element of the French midfielder. “I’m happy with my game, I managed to get a lot of chances, to be effective”analyzed the PSG player at a press conference. “Grace led this team perfectly, which started strong and well”, summed up his coach Corinne Deacon. While she had missed the two preparation matches because of a minor injury, Geyoro, who had “I want to get off to a good start” the competition, prepared to be at the level from the first meeting against Italy. The challenge is successful.
The attack repeated its scales
In front of the Parisienne, the offensive line was particularly illustrated against the Transalpines. Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Delphine Cascarino both shook the nets, while Kadidiatou Diani, untenable at the start of the game, caused the situations of excess on the first two tricolor goals. “We know each other well now, especially the attackers, so we have this facility to find spaces and carry out actions”, admitted Grace Geyoro after the meeting. After the matches with high scores against Cameroon and Vietnam, the three attackers proved that they also knew how to be decisive during major events, in meetings where the stakes are high.
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They performed the show tonight ✨#ProudToBeBlues #FRAITA pic.twitter.com/12jGokWwzL— French Women’s Team (@equipedefranceF) July 10, 2022
An intensity to refine
One of the doubts before the kick-off of the meeting concerned the ability of Les Bleues to accept the fight and the intensity, after two rather light friendly matches. On the lawn, the French began with a recital, before slowing down in the second half. “It’s not for lack of telling them in the locker room to stay focused, with the same intentions”smiled Corinne Deacon. “We slacked off, there was less movement, we will have to erase that in the next matches”, recognized for his part Eve Périsset. The coach, however, wanted to sweep away doubts about the physical form of her troops. “They are good in that regard, they have worked well, they have recovered well”, she assures. His Bleues will have to hold this good form a little longer against Belgium to believe it.
The defense must still reassure
This is probably the slightly more negative point of the evening. Behind the offensive impulses, the French defense appeared more struggling. Sometimes caught out of time by the rare Italian attacks, the defensive quartet did not reach the level of the rest of the team, before cracking in the last quarter of an hour. “It’s a shame to have conceded a goal, it’s the negative point of this evening”, admitted Eve Périsset bluntly. An instability also due to the many changes in the compositions of the last meetings, with the absence then the return of Wendie Renard, and the hesitations of Corinne Deacon between Griedge Mbock and Aïssatou Tounkara to accompany the captain in the axis. “I have to make choices, that of establishing Aïssatou tonight was carefully thought out, and I think she had a decent match”, justified the coach. Sufficient to ensure its renewal, and bring a little stability behind? The match against Belgium will provide a first element of response.