Neither cocorico nor fireworks: the Bleues struggled to dominate Belgium (2-1) on Thursday but they pocketed their ticket for the quarter-finals of the Euro with a lead, a success tarnished by the worrying injury to their attacking star Marie-Antoinette Katoto.
The early and grimacing exit of the + serial-scorer + constitutes a serious hitch in the plan of the France team, yet well executed from an arithmetic point of view. The next medical bulletins will be eagerly awaited concerning “MAK”, back on crutches after halftime…
“For the moment, it’s a sprained knee,” announced the coach of Les Bleues, Corinne Deacon, in a post-match conference. She had indicated a little earlier in front of the Canal + camera that the staff would try “to have an exam for tomorrow (Thursday) pretty soon.”
In the meantime, his training has made life easier in this first round, with a qualification and a first group place already acquired before even facing Iceland next Monday, still in Rotherham.
Les Bleues are not going to leave the small New York Stadium anytime soon (less than 8,200 spectators on Thursday) since they will pass their first crucial test there, on July 23 in the quarters, against the 2nd nation in Group C, probably Sweden, vice- Olympic champion, or the Netherlands, reigning European champions.
The level of adversity will certainly rise several notches, after the initial electrifying ride against Italy (5-1) and the much narrower success against Belgium, a deserving team despite their weaker pedigree.
“We dropped a bit of pace at one point and we weren’t able to concretize our highlights to make the break and so suddenly the Belgian equalizer intervened. We’re not used to being mistreated we will say”, commented Deacon on Canal +.
Among the good news, the French team can count on the explosiveness of its sides to blast the grouped blocks, with two pairs already very well established: Sakina Karchaoui and Delphine Cascarino on the left, Eve Perisset and Kadidiatou Diani on the right.
– Missed opportunities –
The diamond Diani shone again on Thursday with rides, dribbles and a precious presence in the area, as on the opening of the early score where his pricked header hit the mark on a cross from Karchaoui (6th, 1-0).
“It’s true that he was eagerly awaited so today I’m happy,” reacted on TF1 the player who had never scored in a major international competition in the blue jersey.
The brilliance of the hot start soon faded, however, when Katoto’s momentum was broken on an innocuous offensive phase. The center-forward of PSG stopped running, displaying a grin of pain before leaving the field in great pain and limping.
The striker, hit in a knee the day before in training, watched the rest of the match from the stand, crutches at hand.
This twist of fate did not change the face of the match, to the advantage of the Blues, but they were still surprised on the first shot of the Red Flames, signed Janice Cayman (36th, 1-1).
The Belgian from OL played a bad trick on her club partners, leaving behind Griedge Mbock and getting the better of Wendie Renard in the box.
The equalizer highlighted the friability of the tricolor rearguard, in sequence, a porosity already seen in the second half against Italy.
Left on the bench four days earlier, to everyone’s surprise, Mbock did not play for long, however, because the release came from his head (41st, 2-1) after a strong cross from Clara Matéo, the other player to have earned her starting stripes on Thursday.
All smiles, the OL central defender came to celebrate her 8th international goal with Aïssatou Tounkara, her great friend and competitor, who had stolen her place against Italy.
Ouleymata Sarr (68th) and especially Wendie Renard (90th) had the opportunity to offer a more flattering score to the Blue, but Katoto’s replacement missed her recovery then the captain completely missed her penalty.