” Life is beautiful. Will the warm greeting sent by coach Hervé Renard, all smiles, to the journalists present during the last training session of Les Bleues on the eve of their entry into the running in the World Cup be prophetic? Sunday July 23 in Sydney, the Blues can make life even better by starting their tournament with a victory against Jamaica, an opponent well within their reach in a group F where Brazil is the main rival.
The last rehearsal of the Habs was rich in lessons at Jubilee Stadium, a 20,000-seat enclosure with a magnificent lawn in the southern suburbs of Australia’s largest city.
We first learned of Elisa De Almeida’s package. Therefore, Wendie Renard and Estelle Cascarino should be aligned in the central hinge. Already diminished at the start of preparation, the PSG defender received a blow to the calf. “Forty-eight hours ago, Elisa couldn’t put her foot on the ground, so it was complicated for today. She will not be able to be lined up tomorrow, “said the coach.
Other information, more positive, Selma Bacha impresses with her ability to recover. The Lyonnaise, victim of a sprained ankle on July 14 during the defeat against Australia in a warm-up match, chained the laps of the field with an alert step.
Under the eyes of Philippe Diallo, president of the French Football Federation (FFF) and Jean-Michel Aulas, president of the Commission for high-level women’s football at the FFF, she even allowed herself some sprint sequences. “Selma is getting better and better. She is accelerating, everything is perfect, explained Hervé Renard. We were very scared. We are very happy that she is back in shape and smiling. »
“Hurry it up”
The one her teammates in Lyon sometimes call Brutus should be back for the second game. “We don’t want to take any risks but she should be there against Brazil [July 29 in Brisbane],” added the coach of Les Bleues.
Present in the wake of a press conference, this time at the Sydney Football Stadium, the stadium which will host this first meeting, Wendie Renard and Hervé Renard expressed their desire to do battle. “The preparation finally came to an end with that rest day we had on Friday. We focused on doing video and tactical sessions to get the competition off to a good start, ”said the captain of Les Bleues.
“After more than thirty days of preparation, we can’t wait for it to begin. This first match will be far from easy. We prepared well, said the coach. It is up to us to approach it in the best psychological conditions and to win it because it is still very important. »
And against the Jamaicans, the French players will have to negotiate their start better than in their last rehearsal against Australia on July 14. Wendie Renard is aware of this: “The staff repeated this word to us: intensity. This is an important element and we have seen it since the start of the competition. It will be necessary to raise the level of individual requirement. »
So does his namesake: “We’re going to have to start the game a lot better. Be ready immediately, insisted Hervé Renard. Against Australia, we had some extenuating circumstances. We were upset by the jet lag, we were shaken from the start. It was a good alert. »
Les Bleues have become accustomed to starting the World Cup with a victory. This has been the case in the last three editions: 1-0 against Nigeria and England in 2011 and in 2015, 4-0 against South Korea in 2019. The rest had been more difficult.
“It’s true that in the past, in the knockout stages, we lacked a bit of freshness,” admitted Wendie Renard. But every tournament is different. We have to use the past. We always learn. For Hervé Renard, there is no doubt that his charges are “ready”: “They want to do something at this World Cup. It’s up to them to prove it.