Undefeated Olivier Echouafni. Another crap performance for France, this time it was our best eleven minus 2/3 players versus a very unusual German team....but who cares as long as coach Echouafni still undefeated everything is fine for him. Nothing worked, the three upfront in a very very bad day as usual when Delie and Le Sommer play together...at midfield Henry average the rest completely dominated and even our defense usually solid was unreliable with Echouafni strangely deciding to play young Geyoro CB instead of Tounkara the only defender remaining with Georges and Mbock out injured.....But France didn't lose, we are first close to winning a trophy and super Bouhaddi in all her craziness saved us multiple times...so everything is fine . Now bring USA on!..lol notes: Bouhaddi 6: Did everything you expect from her, great saves and stupid mistakes all in 90 minutes. Perisset 5: Did well in the first half, in teh second couldn't keep the rythm Geyoro 5: I understand the coach really rates her high but CB is not her position and she did amateurish mistakes there. Renard 5,5: Our most reliabe defender but didn't play with serenity. Karchaoui 6: Her best defensive game with the NT so far. Henry 5,5: The only midfielder who showed something positive but not all game long. Bussaglia 4: Completely out of the game, couldn't get invoved at all. Abily 5: Uninspired performance, dominated by Germany midfielders. Le Sommer 4,5: Started as RW than CF but didn't created opportunities because she was only worried to do everything by herself. Delie 4: A performance to forget asap. Majri 5: Tried her best but was very well controlled by club teammate Bremer. substitutes: Thomis 5: Added what she got best..her pace..nothing else. Thiney 4: Time to stop with les Bleues. Toletti n.g: came in for Henry in the last ten minutes. Catala n.g: Only played five minutes...he completely forgot she was there. Echouafni 4: Team continuous to play like crap but does he rellay care?..He stil hasn't lost a game with France...
I hate to see the players ratings when they actually loose a game, lol. Echouafni only needs to tie the game to win the tournament. Though I enjoyed that he brought a more rapid/swifter game to the French game, it might be better if the team hangs back & counter attacks against the US new 3 back line defense which was shot full of holes by the Lioness. But who can predict with all the line up changes all the teams have been making. One thing; at least Echouafni keeps his FB's more grounded, I think that's far better than his predessors did which usually resulted in giving up goals via the counters
USA - France: 0-3 ; Abily 8', Le Sommer 10', Abily 62'. Echouafni's best. Since taking France command last September, coach Echouafni despite never losing had some very questionable tactical choices or squad selections which lead many of us to question if he's really the man of the situation. The ex Ligue 1 professional player is very new to female football world so perhaps needed time to adjust his organization or other tactical credo to players, staff, environment completely new to him.... Anyway, after yesterday magistral display...arguably one of France WNT biggest victory...Echouafni scored many points, yes it was just a friendly but France was perfectly prepared...tactics, fitness, motivation on point...to win this game, with the help of Jill Ellis we must admit.....so kudos to him. Renard-Henry-Le Sommer, our backbone, the trio of technical leaders which France depend in order to win big (Euro 17' and WC 19') what Echouafni is succeding is to make these three women on field responsible of France's performance, Abily is the cherry on the cake but the cake success depend on Wendie, Amandine and Eugenie...when inspired we could beat anyone. notes: Gerard 6,5: Americans strikers weren't in a good day but when called she was ready, as she usually is. Perisset 7: A game in crescendo, start so-so against a top player like Heath but gave a perfect assist to Abily. Georges 7,5: The rock is back, solid performance from a very, very solid CB. Renard 8: The captain and leader of this team, she lead by exemple even gave a great assist to Le Sommer, a wall in front of our goal all game long. Karchaoui 7: Another excellent defensive performance, even when really tested by Dunn and Pugh..she's arguably first choice LB now even if Boulleau comes back. Henry 7,5: Another leader on the pitch, her work ethic is second to none indeed she saved us...played like a boss yesterday. Toletti 6: She is her brightest young player but still learning how to play at the highest level. Abily 8,5: Her best performance with les Bleues in a very long time, since wc 2015 1/4 final imho, She is France most talented player, the one who should always lead us to victory. Thomis 7: Damaged USA defence thanks to her incredible pace but also helped the defense when needed. Majri 6,5: Did very well, not always inspired but gave an exquisite assist to Le Sommer. Le Sommer 8: Tactically she did everything she always should, and what I was crying out loud for....Score one goal, provoked a penalty, started the action which lead to the third one....when her mind is IN the game she's unstoppable. susbstitutes: Tounkara 6,5: Impressed me at an unsual position, RB instead of CB, she's athletically reactive, fast on short and long distance. This was her first game at the SheBelieves and I'm pretty sure we gonna see more of her in the future. Bussaglia 6,5: Came in to gave more susbtance to our midfield and stop Americans reaction by disrupting their midfield...She did her job very well. Lavogez 5: Very disappointed by all her tournament, she still has to learn what is football and how to play the game. Thiney 5: She did offer nothing once in the pitch, she's finished. Catala 5,5: Tried to contribute with good intention but this level is too high for her. Echouafni 8: His best game with Les Bleues so far, from tactics to change he did everything right.
Still waiting for France to win a title, they do have the players so I'm interested to see what they are gonna do now with the new coach... gonna be interesting in the Euros.. France are probably my favourite to win it for now, but of course I do want Norway to win... Norway vs France in the final? 8)
Another failure so I don't even want to waste time writing about that but just celebrate the wonderful international career of a legend called: Camille Anne Francoise ABILY, France greatest number 10: 183 times MERCI 37 times Abily can fly.. Debut with France in 2001 at 16 years old. Participation final tournament: Euros: 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 World Cup: 2011, 2015 Olympic Games: 2012, 2016 At the beginnig of the video she says "I didn't help them (France) to win something...."...But she's completely wrong, she helped France win hearts, be known, feared, respected worldwide, she helped Female football to get way more popularity fans, media involved, little girls all around the world to get inspired by her performance started kicking a ball. France owes you a lot, merci Camille for everything.
One of the legends of women's football. Respect. I even manage to learn something new in French with each new video : what "V" stands for on french cards, by the way? I suppose it's the same that Jack in English, but I don't know the exact word in French.
V stands for Valet yes is the same that Jack in English....I had to check on wikipedia because I'm not really into cards, the last time I played was so many years ago that I don't even remember......lool.
Jessica Houara suffered an ACL. Probably out for the next 9 months. She was sharing starting time at right FB with Eva Perisset on the NT, but wasn't probably going to get much playing time anyways over at Lyon, since they purchased the services of Lucy Bronze for their up coming season
[COMMUNIQUE] Corinne Diacre nommée au poste de sélectionneur de l’Équipe de France féminine https://t.co/ec0G6mqkDT pic.twitter.com/H5KYykD7iR— FFF (@FFF) August 30, 2017 The federation finally came to its senses and picked a coach who has experience in the women's game. Maybe this will be the move to help get France over the wall and start winning major tournaments.
was this some sort of mutual agreement or just an out on out firing? so Echouafni looses 1 game out of 15 that he's coached & gets fired for it? vs Norwegians who refuse to fire their idiot coach who couldn't even score a goal while loosing all three of the Euro games & got it's top player(Ada) quitting over it? he had too many go to players missing in his one loss(vs England) since he was without the services of Renard, Perissrt, Majri, Cascarino. & stupidly didn't start Thomis(vs the Lioness). But it was a disappointing Euro group play & he was slow to incorporati into the starting lineup fresh players from their impressive u20 teams(2014 & 2016 WC finalists).
Good choice by FFF. France had a miserable Euro tournament. No impressive performances, and were lucky to advance from an "easy" group. And Echoufni never made the most of France's talent pool. You never got the sense he was truly invested. Diacre is a former French captain and immersed in the women's game in France. She will bring a much deeper knowledge to the table. Tactically I am not sure of her leanings.
The federation finally came to its senses and picked a coach who has experience in the women's game..[/QUOTE] except that she coached last year, a men's division 2 team, Clarmont, to 13th place out of 22. She was also assistant to Bruno Bini for the NT for 6 years, but Bini seemed to be very disliked(at least by french fans on this forum). Guess that's more experience than a certain Stefi got. But when you look; Sarina Wiegman, was called a tactical genius for the way she guided her team to the Euro championship, yet only got a coaching licence in 2016!
Not all the French fans hate Bini but a good majority do. Those like me who know him just let the flow go. And I had many conversations with Corinne through those years as assistant to Bruno and she has very good ideas on many things.
Soon after our elimination Noel Le Graet (FFF president) affirmed in various interviews that he still had complete trust on Echouafni even though he didn't renewed his contract (which ended June 2018)...so now we can be sure he was lying.....Le Graet clearly already was looking for a replacement and contacted Diacre probably even before France got eliminated. I'm not sure Echouafni knew that but anyway thank to him, his record coaching les Bleues still quite good, only one defeat and a Shebelieves cup triumph after trashing USA in their garden. Corinne Diacre is a well knwon and respected figure in football not only because she was a top player but also to have broken that "gender" barrier as a coach in France, her appointment is not equal to immediate success but the FFF couldn't have found a better coach in my opinion. However, France's problem has never really be the coach, Bini aside, but the players....as I said many times the truth is (Abily aside), we don't have decisive players upfront, our offense never show up in big games, we usually dominate our opponent on game-plays but as we can't score at all, we get punish easily, just watch the Euro were England basically had only one shot on target and that was enough for them to win..... Diacre's job will not be easy, France need a deep renew in the roster, Bergeroo introduced Mbock, Majri, Diani, Lavogez, Karchaoui, Echouafni gave a chance to Perisset and Geyoro; Corinne MUST be brave enough to say goodbye to the old guard from our first game...Thiney, Delie, Bussaglia, Georges, Thomis and of course Abily's retired....if she fails to do it than the public opinion will change on her as fast as Le Graet's decision on Echouafni. She has two years to change the future of female France football, bonne chance.
Diacre has released her roster for the upcoming friendlies: https://www.fff.fr/equipes-de-france/2/feminine-a/derniere-selection
Lot of new names, or of seldom seen ones, at least at Senior Level. Some of them, I recognize from French strong youth National teams of the latest years, but anyway I would appreciate if @debzy or someone else with a deep knowledge of French League would comment on this.
Thomis just announced her retirement I wonder if the non-selection influenced this decision..........
Only for NT at the moment but her contract at OL terminates at the end of this current season...Anyway, Lyon helped her find an occupation after her football career by paying her course fees to be a TV cameraman and actually Elodie works for OLTV sometimes. I'm pretty sure...as it usually happens...Diacre directly called her up to tell her how she wants to renew the team and as in her position France has got plenty of very talented players, including her teammates Cascarino and Laurent, her service are not required anymore..... Elodie Thomis is one of the most popular French player ever, rightly, thanks to her unmatchable pace devastating when she is inspired...but her best days were long ago and being an intelligent person she understands France needs fresh players now. Anyway, as a French and female football fan I thank her for everything she did during all these years with les Bleues, her generation put France on the map, loved and feared, we will always be grateful and never forget her..
YES! I'm very satisfied with this team selection, I said in one of my precedent post that France absolutely needed a renewal, fresh faces and legs NOW to start preparing 2019 which is the biggest appointment in the history of our female football. I said : Glad Diacre already had that in mind, Thomis, Delie and Thiney best days are long gone with the NT so is not a surprised at all if they are not called (Finally Thiney is out!!) But not start the great work for Corinne, some of her choices are quite surprising..Durand, Cissoko, Lorgere'..frankly none of these three players is talented enough to be part of thr NT at the moment, and leaving at home Tounkara, Perisset is also quite surprising. Anyway, this is just the beginning of a long list of players called until our world cup. As you rightly says some of these players have been called for what they did in the various France junior NT because due to the very young age of many they didn't quite show a lot even in D1F anyway her is my little presentation of players. Goalkeepers: Bouhaddi (31, OL) NT managers come and go but Sarah is always there, not my favourite GK but still Lyon first choice so very hard to not call....Gerard (27, MHSC) my fav, now that she finally will be the starter at club level she seriously could be for NT too. Durand (22, Guingamp) Phillipe and Peyraud-Magnin are better than her but both are second choices in their club so Diacre called Solene who did very well in junior NTs. Defenders: Renard (27, OL) and Mbock (22, OL) don't need presentation, Karchaoui (21, MHSC) will be the starting LB but defensively new face Greboval (22, PFC) is better imho, Thea is a top talent who needs to be confident and push forward more but always liked her, she will give great competition to Sakina. Torrent (25, MHSC) has always been around the NT but her calling is more to replace the injured Houara, Georges (33, PSG) still a rock but her presence is not for a long term imo, at least until new faces mature such as Cissoko (20, OM) very physical player, raw, rough, tough and with athletism but very immature not only due to young age but also because she started playing organised football only 5 years ago. Hawa came out of PSG academy but Lair didn't believe in her abilities so she left and signed for OM this summer, she has a total of 8 games played at senior level...her selection is only due to what she showed on Junior NTs reaching the final in the last U20 World Cup. Lorgere (23, Guingamp) is the biggest surprise because she isn't talented or haven't got high potential like others, Charlotte is a versatile defender able to play anywhere across the defense even though her favourite position is CB but she's definitely too short to play there at the very highest level she's 164 cm officially, less imho..Also a tough defender very aggressive who loves contact hard to beat in 1vs1 situation. Midfielders: Henry (28, Portland) doesn't need presentation, I am surprised to see Bussaglia (32, Barcelona) name but I think just like Georges, Diacre is waiting for some young players to mature Geyoro (20, PSG) one of the very few positive note from last Euro failure is a starter from now on impressive in her last game she reached another level. Toletti (22, MHSC) is the only one of the new generation which has the technical abilities and vision close to France great Abily and Necib, we put plenty of hope in Sandie's feet she should be France new N10, advanced playmaker in pure France tradition...Platini and Zidane for the males, Abily and Necib for the females. Catala (26 , PFC) and her teammate Jaurena (26, PFC) are two good players but they wil be gone once injured Majri, Lavogez will recover. Forwards: Le Sommer (28, OL) needs to be decisive now that Abily retired we have to count on her even more, I am not a big fan of Eugenie but there's no other way we must count on her. Diani (22, PSG) did well at the Euro, she needs to be more confident but her potential is very high, Gauvin (21, MHSC) is a baby-Delie, pivot very powerful centre forward, who is doing very well lately on club level same goes with Sarr (21, LOSC) who has tremendous physicality...tall,strong, fast..a true athlete but need to improve technically, anyway she scored an hattrick in her last game. Asseyi (23, OM) did very well last season indeed I was expectingher to be called for the Euro, I like her quite a lot, short but robust, aggressive striker, who likes to attack space behind the defense a true force hard to stop, Vivi when played in a central position could cause headache to many defenders. Morroni (19, PSG) is one of France most highly rated youngster, a stricly left footed player able to play anywhere across the left flank but her best position is LM imo because she's too short...157 cm.. and not aggressive enough to be a defender but she has creativity, ball control and surprisingly excellent athlelical abilities to be a constant threat . However, I was expecting Diacre to PSG's Katoto and OL's Cascarino who are the best French hope at the offensive sector. Anyway, France's 2019 mission start now and is very exciting.
Dammit this makes me angry again with what happened in the 2015 World Cup... for me the best tournament for their generation. It was just unfortunate that yes, it had to end that way sigh...
Yep their best tournament indeed, we never dominated Germany as we did in 2015...we should have won that game what a shame indeed...I still asking myself why Gaetane Thiney shhot with her right foot when she knew very well that last ball she should have shot with the inside of her left foot....what a shame, great generation but always missed something to win in the end.