In Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), the French women’s football team is starting its new adventure. Against Colombia, in a friendly match, Les Bleues will play, on Friday April 7, at 9:10 p.m., their first meeting without Corinne Deacon on the bench since September 15, 2017. His successor, Hervé Renard, is preparing to lead for the first time a women’s collective since his coaching debut… in 1999.

The timing of the meeting between the charismatic and backpacking coach, who has the experience of two men’s World Cups and two victories in the African Cup of Nations, and the French women, who have still not won an international title and who have expressed an urgent need for change, seems ideal. In three months, the small group will leave for the antipodes for the World Cup 2023, organized in Australia and New Zealand (from July 20 to August 20).

After a first day of discovery, Monday, in Clairefontaine (Yvelines), Hervé Renard did not hide his joy:

“I feel like a child dreaming a little. I don’t want to take away this naive side. I live things to the fullest, I take pleasure and I measure the chance of being here. »

“Every change brings new hope”

Some of the 26 players on his list were also taking their first steps in blue. And they shared the same satisfaction as their coach. Like the right side Magou Doucouré, Reims for six seasons. “I’m coming to selection for the first time with a new coach. It’s a new era, says the 22-year-old. We have a World Cup in three months that we have to prepare as much as possible. I come with my qualities, I have to put them to the benefit of the group. And I hope to have my little place for Australia…”

If her name had already appeared in some of Corinne Deacon’s expanded pre-convening lists, Magou Doucouré had never been called before. “The opportunity has [presented itself], it’s up to me to take it. “And the person concerned shows no apprehension at the prospect of making her big debut in front of 11,000 people at the Gabriel-Montpied stadium – or even 25,000 at the Marie-Marvingt stadium, in Le Mans, for the second match of Les Bleues against Canada, Tuesday.

“I have never played in a stadium with so many fans ready to support me. It’s just fun,” she anticipates.

Oriane Jean-François, holder this season at PSG after having played for three years at Paris FC, she had not been called up to the France team since October 23, 2020, the date of her only selection during a match in the playoffs of the euro. “I’m rediscovering [the French team] differently, with a new staff and a new atmosphere, details the 21-year-old Guyanese. With every change comes new hope. I believed it a little more. It was important to be in this first list. »

At only 25 years old, Grace Geyoro already has 62 selections, but in her own way, she is also participating in this renewal. Captain at PSG, she was appointed vice-captain – alongside Eugénie Le Sommer – in support of Wendie Renard, to whom the coach therefore chose to leave the armband. Hervé Renard taught them, Monday, at the opening of the rally.

“He explained his choice to us and asked for our agreement,” explains Grace Geyoro. It is a pride. Thanks to my intermediate position between the generations, I have this ability to make the link between the oldest and the youngest. La Parisienne intends to take great care of her less experienced teammates:

“I know what it is and I try to be there to make sure everything goes well. »

In Australia, she should also play an essential role within the Blue; unlike the 2019 World Cup in France, where she only spent five minutes on the pitch, spread over two meetings. “I won’t use the term revenge. I evolved, I grew up and I became aware of my qualities, she says. Maybe without 2019 I wouldn’t be here today. I used this failure. »

Focus on the World Cup

New era, new mindset. No question of dwelling on the circumstances that led to the hasty departure of Corinne Deacon; these three successive warning shots fired by captain Wendie Renard, then star attackers Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani, who announced, at the end of February, their withdrawal from the selection to denounce a management unsuited to the requirements of the high level.

The goal today is to focus on the World Cup. Hervé Renard leads by example: “It’s easy for me. I arrive, I draw the curtain, I enter the room, and we go there as if nothing had happened. My role is to bring this team on the right track. »

Same observation on the side of the players. “The past belongs to the past,” asserts Magou Doucouré. “If decisions have been made, it may be that there was a need to move forward, analyzes the beginner. A new staff has been put in place. We were listened to. It’s up to us to prove what we are capable of and to go, why not, look for a title…”

Oriane Jean-François agrees: “We have to show that what has been done [has been done] for the good of the national team, and that it was necessary for France to finally win this title that it does not still haven’t won. As a good vice-captain, Grace Geyoro is even more direct: “We said what we had to say. We have to move on. It’s tiring to come back to this. We are in a new cycle. We need to see the present and the future. »

Everyone is now ready to assume their responsibilities. “The players claimed things. They got them. Now they have homework, summarizes Hervé Renard. They know that the responsibilities are multiplied tenfold. This goes through successes against Colombia and Canada.