If the Blues are hardly worried in a Group B of the League of Nations to their standard, the players of coach Hervé Renard are providing minimum service for the moment. Four days after snatching victory in Norway, the French team conceded a draw (0-0) at the Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims. Coming to defend, the Norwegians are nothing like their predecessors, world champions in 1995 and Olympic champions in 2000.
Despite an end to the match finally marked by a surge and a bit of offensive madness – two posts found in quick succession by Amandine Henry and Eugénie Le Sommer – the Bleues did not do enough to secure a fourth victory in four Ligue 1 matches. nations. Nothing dramatic since coach Hervé Renard’s players largely retain first place in group B with 10 points, ahead of Austria (7 points), which won in Portugal.
“The first twenty minutes were too timid on our part to get the match going and put pressure on the opponent,” Hervé Renard reacted at a press conference. “We should have been more efficient collectively to have more gaps, that they are done better and that we are better in the last pass. »
Snagged by Norway, the France team has been undefeated since July 14 and a defeat against Australia in the last World Cup preparation match. They remain on six victories and three draws, including an elimination in the quarter-finals of the World Cup against the Australians.
“We need to be more dangerous, even more inclined to the offensive. The context will be a little different from Oslo. We will take the game into our own hands, but we will have to keep the balance,” Hervé Renard had hoped the day before at a press conference. Their players had, as expected, a near monopoly on possession of the ball but they too often abused lateral or backward passes, like midfielder Sandie Toletti, who annoyed her coach by First period.
Julie Dufour and Sandie Baltimore offensive
The sparks came from two new players in the starting eleven. Already to her advantage during the last match, the Parisian from Paris Football Club (PFC), Julie Dufour, and the Parisian from Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Sandy Baltimore, brought a little life and offensive energy. In the 17th minute, Dufour, who greatly contributed to PFC’s qualification for the Champions League group stage, hooked a Scandinavian defender before hitting just above Aurora Mikelsen’s cage.
Aligned in place of Kadidiatou Diani, Blue manager with 92 caps but in difficulty since the start of the season – “we are not going to hide the question, she must do better”, shook her before the Hervé Renard – Sandy Baltimore match was impactful on his right side. She first slaloms through several opponents before entering the area and crossing, without danger (21st). Then, she rolls her ball twice which fails a few centimeters from the frame (25th and 31st).
A few seconds before this second attempt, Baltimore and Dufour combined with Sakina Karchaoui the most beautiful movement of the first forty-five minutes: a reversal of play from the PSG player to that of the PFC, who fixes and shifts behind her back the lateral Karchaoui whose the center behind finds Grace Geyoro, blocked at the last minute (31st).
In the second period, the duo did it again. Dufour calls for an intelligent one-two, Geyoro throws Eugénie Le Sommer in depth, less precise than usual this evening. The best scorer in the history of the Blues is blocked, the ball returns to Sandie Toletti whose recovery, alone from five meters, goes well above (49th). A minute later, Baltimore struggles to recover a ball at the opposing feet along the line. She finds Le Sommer who crosses at the far post but Dufour is too short this time to control her recovery.
Three shots on target hit the posts
After an hour of play, Julie Dufour was replaced by Kadidiatou Diani, who could have found the opportunity to react to her coach’s criticism. But the Lyon rookie didn’t really have the opportunity to do so, with the exception of a header that was too far off a cross from Vicki Becho (82nd). Enough for Hervé Renard who congratulated the two players: “Julie [Dufour] lives up to what we expected. She tried and she combined on her left side. The return of Kadi [Kadidiatou Diani] was also important. She made differences. It’s good. »
Earlier, Sandy Baltimore, the best player of the match, highlighted herself one last time before going out, with a shot on Mikelsen’s post (70th). In the last five minutes, she is imitated by two of the Blue’s most experienced players. Amandine Henry infiltrates the penalty area before sending a shot into the square of the Norwegian cages (85th). Eugénie Le Sommer slaloms and her shot hits the top of the Norwegian crossbar (86th).
After the meeting, Baltimore, which had not been selected for the 2023 World Cup, was congratulated by its coach. “She made an effort that showed. I think she worked a lot more. She is at a better level today, he analyzed. She gave her all tonight, she hit and she hit. His match is successful. It’s good that there is competition. »
We will have to do better on December 1 when we host the Austrians, runners-up to the French, and on December 5 in Portugal. “I would have exchanged a goal conceded for two scored,” concluded Hervé Renard. I am satisfied with our results. We have everything in our hands: a home match and a lead over this Austrian team. It’s up to us to be serious and do the work. » And to definitively validate their place for the semi-finals of this first edition of the Women’s Nations League.
