The French women’s team made a very good start on Wednesday in Le Havre during the Tournoi de France. With a partially reorganized formation, Les Bleues succeeded in their match by winning 5-0 against Finland. The meeting especially allowed to see on the lawn Kheira Hamraoui, coming into play almost three years after his last appearance.
This easy success allows the defending champions to take control of the competition before their second meeting, Saturday in Caen, against Brazil which, earlier, had hooked the Dutch European champions (1-1).
A surprise in the cages
Corinne Deacon had said that there would be “no second team” at kick-off, but the coach made a counterattack by aligning her goalkeeper N.2 Solène Durand, relaunching Marion Torrent to the right of defense and giving playing time to Clara Matéo and Melvine Malard. These choices paid off against Finland, 28th nation in the Fifa rankings, whose sad evening began with a hiccup with the wrong anthem played at the Océane stadium.
The Paris FC striker, Clara Matéo, distinguished herself by a lively part, with percussion, speed and precious set pieces. At 24, she improved her seventh selection by delivering two decisive corners for the heads of Melvine Malard (2-0, 16th) and Wendie Renard (3-0, 34th), also scorer in the 89th. His good performance especially gave substance to his ambition to participate in the Euro scheduled for July in England.
From the height of his 21 years, Malard also took advantage of the hand extended by the coach to shoot down his cards from the right wing of the attack. Lively and decisive, she scored her third goal in 9 selections. Same age and same talent for Sandy Baltimore who, from the opposite lane on the left, caused many torments to his vis-à-vis. A minute after a nice recovery above (11th), the Paris SG winger provoked an own goal from Anna Westerlund (1-0, 12th). She is also the one who takes the winning corner for Renard’s last goal.
Hamraoui on track at the 62nd
Beyond the final result, the evening was marked by the return to the tricolor jersey of Kheira Hamraoui, more than three months after the attack she suffered. The 3,600 spectators did not react when she entered the game, in the 62nd minute, but Deacon and Charlotte Bilbault, whom she replaced, were warmer, with smiles and hugs.
Forfeited on injury in October, after a first surprise recall, Hamraoui, 32, had never entered into the plans of Deacon, who had only offered him a handful of seconds in April 2019 in a friendly against Japan (3- 1). His entry into play, sober and effective, makes you want to see more against a tougher opposition. That’s good, Brazil and the Netherlands will soon appear in this Tournoi de France.