Women’s Euro 2022 – France – Germany – Delphine Cascarino, blessed by the dribbling gods

From our special correspondent in Milton Keynes,

It’s far-fetched but it holds up. “The first time I played football, I think it was at home with my older brother. We didn’t even have a ball, we were playing with a Pikachu plush.” When it came time to find a rational explanation for Delphine Cascarino’s ability to strike down her opponents on the spot, only filiation with this electric Pokémon seemed to answer the question. Since then, the plush has become a balloon And that’s good. Because the talent of the Lyonnaise was too obvious for her to confine herself to family games.

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In England, when discussing Cascarino’s performances on this Euro, one word systematically comes up in the comments of his Instagram publications: “baller”. Baller therefore and ballerina, so much the delicacy of his touch contrasts with the cruelty of his accelerations for his opponents. “She can make the difference at any time“, summarized Wendie Fox Tuesday. in the depth, even on his left wing, the wing is unstoppable. Flashed at nearly 31 km / h at Rotherham Stadium, she continued to martyr her direct opponents with her feints, her hooks and her inspired arabesques. Nothing new for the one who was already the most effective dribbler in the Champions League last season.

Delphine Cascarino, the gifted dribbler

Credit: Quentin Guichard

Delphine was without complex, against boys or not

But where does this mad ability to eliminate come from? “It’s something natural about her“, assures Gilles Eyquem, former coach of the youth player. Statements confirmed by Aziz Sabba, who speaks of “something innate“. Coach at AS Manissieux in 2007, when the two Cascarinos (she has a twin sister, Estelle, player at PSG, editor’s note) decide to leave their first club Saint-Priest, he remembers. “Delphine, from the first moments, she showed the football we know today: without complex, against boys or not, it didn’t change anythinghe explains. Right away, it was added value for our team. She started all the matches on her famous right side, with the boys. She finished her training with the boys. She could have stayed with the boys for a few more years, but when OL call you…“

The story is well known: a girl from the Lyon region, who was spotted by the biggest French club among women, who went through all the stages in training before winning in a workforce that was overflowing with stars. But when you have your talent, impossible to miss. By extending it last year, Sonia Bompastor, his coach at OL, set him a simple personal goal: the Ballon d’Or. No wonder according to her former youth educator, who coached her when she was only ten years old.

“She is an explosive player, who likes to provoke a lot in one-on-one, with a good quality of crosseshe summarizes. But she is a collective player, she never pulled the cover to herself. She shared more with others than she really thought of herself. That’s partly why, I think, it doesn’t have the expected radiance yet. For me, Delphine is Kylian Mbappé“. Words that may make you smile but which correspond word for word to the comparison made by Amel Majri, her friend at OL.

Delphine Cascarino during Euro 2022

Credit: Getty Images

The first supports, assured carnage

Perhaps because like the Parisian, the Lyonnaise has an absolutely stunning visual ability to start. “She is even more effective when she stops her opponent face to facebelieves Gilles Eyquem. On his first strides, it’s fantastic. ” Poor Kerstin Casparij can testify to this: left-back of the Netherlands on Saturday (1-0, ap), she first stuck Kadidiatou Diani before recovering Delphine Cascarino at the mark. A second blade which was even more cutting edge. Enough to keep memories for a first Euro…

Memories, precisely, those who rubbed shoulders with him younger have only that in mind. When a kid swims so much, she notices herself. Aziz Sabba didn’t have to look long. “It’s the Villefranche tournament, it’s the last time I had her under my ordershe engages. It was a fairly tough tournament in the region and frankly… She made monster differences: acceleration over the first two-three meters, elimination of one or two opponents before crossing… That tournament, she had shown that she was above.”

Inevitably, it makes people talk in a football still reserved for boys. “Signing up for football in our time was a political act“, confirmed his sister for Bros Stories. But, like his former coach, those who rubbed shoulders with Cascarino remain marked for life. “Still today you talk about Cascarino to boys from 1997, I can tell you that she is really respectedhe explains. The guys were shocked, and even now they are all shocked. They all say ‘it’s too much’, ‘it’s incredible’. And it’s the same for people who don’t know her. The first question is always ‘but who is this girl?’. When she is really on a good day, you notice her very quickly!“

The young Delphine Cascarino during the U20 World Cup

Credit: Getty Images

Found on… Eurosport

Inevitably, the links ended up relaxing over time. But the story between Sabba and Cascarino is not over yet. “I am originally from Lyon, so when Delphine joins OL, I have some feedback on the fact that it is going wellhe explains. One day, I zapped and I came across Eurosport. It’s the Euro U20 quarter-finals: first image, boom, a zoom on Delphine. I watched the whole game and the whole tournament. ” Les Bleues will win and, by chance, it is Gilles Eyquem who was in charge.

He too remembers demonstrations of mad ease at Cascarino. The same year, a U20 World Cup awaits the winger. “The World Cup in Papua New Guinea, she had made the show, beyond her fantastic goal. As for his dribbling… he only needed a hook to leave“, he confirms. The sentence is still true in 2022. Proof that talent does not age. And that the recipe remains as effective as ever.

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