Hervé Renard’s Bleues face Austria on Tuesday in the Nations League (6:30 p.m.). The coach confirmed a very strong decision.
A little over a month after its exit against Australia, in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup, the French women’s football team found itself in the Nations League . Victorious last Friday against Portugal (2-0), Hervé Renard’s daughters face Austria this time, this Tuesday evening near Vienna (6:30 p.m.). The opportunity for the coach to confirm a clear choice within his squad.
As against the Portuguese, the former Saudi Arabian tactician chose to start Constance Picaud as goalkeeper. A decision which confirms the downgrading of Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, despite having been an indestructible holder in front of the French cage since September 2020. Particularly criticized for her level of kicking, the thirty-one-year-old player is taking the blame, while Hervé Renard fully accepts his decision.
A third candidate?
And the coach made no secret of it on Monday, during the pre-match press conference, when discussing the weaknesses of Peyraud-Magnin. “ It’s the emotional side where, I think, she didn’t know how to handle this World Cup. (…) We need a goalkeeper who is confident with her feet. » Criticisms and a decision that the main interested party necessarily had difficulty receiving. According to an indiscretion of The TeamPeyraud-Magnin and Renard we had a “ long discussion ” last Thursday.
“ I am not attacking Pauline Peyraud-Magnin as a person, the coach also justified himself. It’s a sporting decision, I explained to him. She is very intelligent, she understood it, even if it hurts. » However, everything still remains open regarding the hierarchy of French goalkeepers. Hervé Renard is still waiting to be definitively convinced by one or the other. And nothing says that a third candidate couldn’t show up and scold the other two. Marie Petiteau, Montpellier goalkeeper, could well be the one.
