The coach of Les Bleues is not happy to have faced Australia in a friendly match which was planned before his appointment.
Serious and diligent, the France team did not shake Tuesday against Morocco (4-0), and easily crossed the knockout stages of the World Cup. A new stage for Hervé Renard and his team.
“Now, on to the quarter. The noose is tightening, there are only eight teams left, we continue our journey. The objective is to achieve the best performance in the history of the selection (a semi-final in 2011) so we must necessarily go further. That was the original goal, it hasn’t changed.”recalled the coach of the Blues at a press conference, relays L’Equipe.
Hervé Renard said it, the level should rise in the next round, since Les Bleues will face a team from Australia which is gaining strength over the matches. “When you come with ambitions, you have to beat the best teams, confides the tricolor coach. There is nothing to fear from this team, you have to respect it. We are well informed, we have seen them, they have a collective force, a discipline. It is up to us to prepare well. »
Les Bleues know Australia well, in fact, since they crossed paths with the Matildas just before this World Cup, for their very last friendly match, lost 1-0. A meeting that Renard, bitter, would have preferred not to play. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t decide on the schedule for this warm-up match before the tournament.said the coach, in a tackle addressed to the previous staff, that of Corinne Deacon, who had set the preparation schedule. If I had decided, I would never have wanted to play Australia. When you know your roster, you don’t play such a team. »
With the format of this World Cup with two host countries, France knew that it would play its final phase in Australia (where the teams of groups B, D, F and H compete). A quarter-final against the Matildas was to be expected, in the event that the two formations finished at the top of their group, which was the project for these two nations. For Renard, it was therefore not necessary to “offer” the Australians this friendly match against the Blues who had just gotten off the plane.
“This match was special, we had just arrived, the players hadn’t slept very well, we weren’t at 100%, recalls the coach. Saturday we will have to be above 100%. Having lost in preparation puts us on alert, but the configuration is totally different. »
