Oh mon dieu.
Three words the Italian national team must surely have learnt after a 5-1 loss to France in Rotherham.
Reports of France’s demise, then, will have to be kept on hold… for now at least.
Ahead of the 2022 Euros, all the talk regarding the French national team was surrounding Corinne Diacre’s decision to leave Amandine Henry (France’s former captain) and Eugénie Le Sommer (France’s all-time leading scorer) out of the squad. Henry’s omission was a particularly sticky point, considering the OL Féminin took all of six minutes to open the scoring against Barcelona in the Champions League final back in May.
Les Bleues did, however, qualify for the Euros without conceding a single goal.
France’s situation heading into the Euros was balanced, then, as all things should be. A little bit of chaos, a little bit of intrigue, but still enough quality to act as a ballast against the clouds of uncertainty.
One game into their Euros campaign, those clouds have all but disappeared.
A first-half hat-trick from Grace Geyoro and goals from Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Delphine Cascarino wrapped up a clinical evening for France. A 5-1 win and a couple of tournament records – Geyoro became the first player to net a first-half hat-trick in Women’s Euro history. That’s one way to lay down a marker for the bookmakers.
The fact that France wrapped up their first game with Selma Bacha featuring for just under 15 minutes and box-of-tricks winger Melvine Malard getting just eight minutes more game time than her Lyon teammate was just another reminder that this France squad is stacked despite missing some big names.
That’s that for what’s on the pitch.
Behind the scenes, France have been brewing a heady batch of turmoil, headlined by the friction between some veteran players and Diacre.
Between the November 2021 assault of PSG’s Kheira Hamraoui, Sarah Bouhaddi’s retirement from international football and Henry’s omission from the squad after a stellar season in club football, France are living precariously between a trail of gasoline and a powder keg.
Beating, nay, slaying Italy is one thing, but what happens when Les Bleues come up against the Netherlands or Sweden in the last eight? What happens when France have to dig deep and eke out a win against that calibre of opposition?
It’s a shame that off-pitch issues have come to cloud France’s chances in a monumental summer that appears poised to take the game to the next level.
But, c’est la vie, no?
Written by Colin D’Cunha.
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