With Marie-Antoinette Katoto replacing but scoring in the second half, the French women’s football team beat Austria (3-0) on Friday in Rennes and will play in the four-way final of the Women’s Nations League. With 13 points in five games, the Blues have had an almost perfect run and can no longer be joined by their evening opponent, 2nd, who only has 7 points. The last meeting of the group stages, in Portugal, on Tuesday, will therefore be little more than a friendly meeting.
They join Spain, already qualified, while the other two tickets will be played between Germany and Denmark, on the one hand, and a trio made up of the Netherlands, the reigning European champions England and the surprising Belgians, moreover.
Amandine Henry, her again
Favorites in their group after the draw, Hervé Renard’s players held their place, even if the match was very competitive, particularly in the first period. Less technically talented but very tactically disciplined in their 4-4-2, the Austrians, who absolutely needed a victory to still believe in qualification, had come with offensive ambitions from the start.
With a strike from Barbara Dunst which forced Pauline Peyraud-Magnin to make a nice horizontal shot to her left (7th), an uncrossed header from Eileen Campbell which grazed the right post a few seconds later and a long shot from Marie Höbinger which found the crossbar (17th), Austria would have deserved to score in the first act. But it was on the contrary the French who quickly found the fault.
While Hervé Renard had warned before the match about the Austrian strength on set pieces, Amandine Henry, with a header, opened the scoring on a free kick from Selma Bacha (1-0, 5th).
26,000 spectators
France could even have doubled the lead before the break, the regional player of the stage Eugénie Le Sommer obtaining a penalty for an opposing hand. But she saw her attempt diverted to her left by Manuela Zinsberger (44th).
It was only a postponement since the top scorer in the history of the selection victoriously took a back cross from Elisa de Almeida in the 57th minute (2-0) to the delight of the 26,453 spectators who filled the Roazhon Park.
If Le Sommer missed the 3-0 six minutes after his goal, the story would not have been completely beautiful without Marie-Antoinette Katoto, absent for a year and a half from the selection due to a serious injury to one knee, does not stand out.
Left on the bench at kick-off, she was launched at half-time by Hervé Renard.
And in the 84th minute, she magnificently cut a corner from the right to complete the triumph of the Bleues who will be able to play the Final Four without the pressure of an Olympic qualification to win, since they are automatically participants in the Paris Olympics this summer, their main objective.