FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: France coach Renard says pressure will be on Australia in quarterfinals

Football
Published 08.08.2023
FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: France coach Renard says pressure will be on Australia in quarterfinals

France’s run on the Women’s World Cup is about to get so much harder with a quarterfinal conflict in opposition to Australia on Saturday, however France coach Herve Renard understands the strain that comes with being a number nation in a knockout recreation.

France cruised into the quarterfinals with a simple 4-0 win over Morocco in Tuesday’s last-16 match. Four years in the past, Les Bleues had been eradicated by the United States within the final eight in entrance of round 45,000 French followers in Paris.

“We know exactly what we’re in for,” Renard instructed reporters. “The host country, we know that that can be a good or bad thing. This is what the French team went through in 2019. It can be hugely disappointing as it was for France when it was knocked out.

“We’re hoping to put Australia through exactly what France went through when they were the host country in 2019.”

Eugenie Le Sommer netted a brace on Tuesday to extend her scoring document for France to 92 objectives, whereas Kadidiatou Diani grabbed her fourth of the match, and Kenza Dali additionally netted for the fifth-ranked workforce, who had been up 3-0 by the twenty third minute.

France performed Australia lower than a month in the past, a 1-0 loss to the Matildas on July 14th in Melbourne of their final recreation earlier than the World Cup kicked off. Renard, who was employed in late March after the sacking of Corinne Diacre, doesn’t put a lot inventory in that consequence, saying his gamers had been jet-lagged.

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“Your mindset is completely different for the quarterfinals,” the coach mentioned.

“We’ve come with great ambition, and if you’ve come with great ambition, you need to be capable of beating the best teams. There’s nothing to fear here, but we will respect Australia because it has a lot of qualities.”

The 54-year-old, who performed professionally in France, described Tuesday’s recreation at Hindmarsh Stadium as a “bit of an odd evening for me”.

Renard coached Morocco’s males’s workforce from 2016 to 2019 and has a mushy spot for his or her nationwide programme.

“Congratulations to the Moroccan team, first time Morocco is participating in a World Cup, getting to the round of 16 is something that is a great result,” he mentioned.

“I remember in 2016 when the women’s team was actually set up. It was starting from scratch. And therefore, this is a huge performance.”