The quest for the medal begins now. The French team faces Brazil on Saturday, August 3 in the quarter-finals of the women’s football tournament, at the Stade de la Beaujoire, in Nantes. Having topped their group with two wins and one loss, Les Bleues will meet the Seleçao. A decisive match for Hervé Renard’s group, which has set itself the goal of winning an Olympic medal.
Brazil, a good memory. To hope to reach the semi-finals, the French team can model its game plan on… the one put in place against Brazil a year ago, when Les Bleues won 2-1 against the Seleçao in the group stage. A score that does not at all reflect the ultra-dominance of the French, who delivered a reference match that day. Better still: France has never lost against Brazil in a major competition. A “statistics to maintain”, warned Hervé Renard.
Dreams of a medal. Although the coach of the Blues refuses to talk about the colour of the medal he is aiming for, he is not releasing the pressure on his players. “The girls worked with the aim of being able to play five or even six matches, that’s the objective we had set for ourselves,” he recalled, echoing a possible semi-final then final or small final.
A major return to the group. Absent during the last match against New Zealand, French captain Wendie Renard is back in the group. With Eugénie Le Sommer, she was one of the two scorers during the French triumph against Brazil a year ago. The Lyonnaise, for her part, has only played nine minutes since the start of the tournament, returning from a long knee injury.