Coach of Morocco, the opponent of the French team in the round of 16 of the Women’s World Cup next Tuesday, Reynald Pedros knows EugĂ©nie Le Sommer, his former player at OL, perfectly. He knows very well how to contain Kadi Diani, the other Blue striker.
It’s quite funny: in the round of 16 of the World Cup, Tuesday in Adelaide (1 p.m. French time, live on M6), the French women’s team comes across a Moroccan selection led by a Frenchman. And not just anyone: Reynald Pedros, who was OL women’s coach from 2017 to 2019 and therefore had under his command Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, Wendie Renard, Kenza Dali, Selma Bacha, Amel Majri and EugĂ©nie The Sommer. Just that !
Pedros having won two women’s D1 titles and as many Champions League titles at Fenottes (the female equivalent of Les Gones), we can estimate that the 51-year-old technician knows the other holders of HervĂ© Renard’s Bleues very well. Starting with Kadidiatou Diani, Le Sommer’s attacking sidekick in the French 4-2-2, and also the best French player since the 2019 World Cup.
The golazo of Katato
But Diani has never scored against OL de Pedros in 6 matches during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons, in the league and in the Coupe de France. At the same time, the Lyonnaises rarely conceded goals against the Parisiennes at the time. On a Diani cross from the right and muddled by OL, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, with a sombrero-strike sequence from the left, offered the 2018 French Cup to PSG.
The following season, OL Women had conceded only one goal in 3 games against their great rival in the women’s elite, in a 1-1 draw at Jean-Bouin in the league. China’s Wang Shuang had opened the scoring on a blunder by Sarah Bouhaddi, before an equalizer by Wendie Renard (with a header, for a change). Ăve PĂ©risset and Grace Geyoro were also holders on the Parisian side. Here are two other players for whom Pedros has no secrets.
