For its second match under the orders of Hervé Renard, the France team won against the reigning Olympic champions at Le Mans on Tuesday evening.
Hervé Renard’s Les Bleues have already had their first benchmark success. The France team won a convincing victory against Canada, Tuesday, April 11, at the Marie Marvingt stadium in Le Mans (2-1). After a first period during which they dominated without succeeding in being dangerous, Les Bleues made the break at the start of the second half, thanks to two goals from Grace Geyoro and Léa Le Garrec.
Against the Olympic champions, 100 days before the start of the World Cup, the French women offered a much more solid performance over time than against Colombia, four days earlier. Applied, they dictated the tempo and tried to methodically build their offensives as soon as they found themselves in possession of the ball.
Deliverance in the second half
After a first period of sterile domination, they ended up finding the fault when they returned from the locker room, after two good chances in the Canadian area. Well served by a Delphine Cascarino once again in legs, Grace Geyoro opened the scoring with a beautiful uncrossed header (51st). Galvanized, the Blues gained confidence and Léa Le Garrec, who came into play a few minutes earlier for her first appearance in blue since 2017, doubled the lead with a lobbed shot after a failed raise from the opposing goalkeeper (64th). They could even have added a third achievement, if Cascarino had not been flagged offside (89th).
Before these goals celebrated in a great burst of joy, the French had long come up against a Canadian team well in place, and which was little discovered. First of all, they lacked the last gesture, and a little power. On four occasions, the too soft strikes of Cascarino and Mateo were captured without too much difficulty by the Canadian goalkeeper.
They could also have benefited from a penalty a few minutes before Geyoro’s helmet hit, when Eugénie Le Sommer had her foot crushed at the entrance to the Canadian surface. But they hung on, pushed by the noisy coaching of their coach, who multiplied the gestures of encouragement.
A reassuring defense
Les Bleues also regained some defensive solidity on the wet lawn of the Marie-Marvingt stadium. Faced with a team that could be dangerous on all its balls, the half-reformed defense with the tenures of Karchaoui and Cascarino generally held up.
Back under pressure after the reduction of the Canadian gap, on a hand fault by Constance Picaud who saw the ball slipping between his gloves, the tricolor rearguard did not crack. A good omen before the big deadline of the World Cup this summer. Their entry into the competition is scheduled for July 23, against Jamaica.