2016: the advent
Marie-Antoinette Katoto (17) is revealed with the Bleuettes at Euro 2019 in Slovakia in the summer of 2016. She does not score in the first match against Norway (1-0) where she nevertheless holds. In the next match, however, she scored a hat-trick in 44 minutes against the host country (6-0) after coming on at halftime. The youngest player in the team, “MAK” finished top scorer in the competition by scoring six goals, including one in the epic final against Spain (2-1), long interrupted by a violent storm.
2018: victim of pressure
In the summer of 2018, Marie-Antoinette, 19 at the time, was already in Corinne Deacon’s sights with a view to the 2019 World Cup the following year. The striker is coming out of her first season as a full-fledged holder at PSG. She scored 21 goals in the Championship and spread great promise. She is selected for the U20 World Cup which takes place in France a year before the big one. Captain of the Bleuettes, she must assume the leadership. But the pressure is too strong and the Parisian misses her competition. She is relegated to the bench for the quarter-final against South Korea (1-0) and even for the semi-final against Spain. Entering the game, she misses a penalty which precipitates the elimination of the Bleuettes (0-1).
2019: disappointment
After a failed U20 World Cup, Marie-Antoinette Katoto is expected on the upper floor with Les Bleues. Corinne Deacon offers her her first selection in November 2018 against Brazil (3-1), Katoto scores her first goal in selection from her second cap against the United States (3-1) in January 2019. Yet the coach is not not convinced by her performances and thus justifies herself when announcing that the young player is not selected for the World Cup: “Marie-Antoinette has enormous potential. Everyone knows it, sees it. I missed the performance in the big meetings. » The 20-year-old striker, obviously disappointed, follows the competition, which takes place in France, in front of the television.
Three years after the disappointment of the World Cup, Katoto finally has the opportunity to play her first major competition with the A. Named best player in D1, at the end of a new season where her qualities as scorers were cheerfully expressed ( 18 goals in 21 league matches), MAK did not let doubt settle in the coach’s mind. After ousting the competition thanks to her high-flying performances, the Parisian has become THE goalscorer for Les Bleues. “Today, she reveals all the potential she has within her. […] I hope it will last”, said Deacon when the list was published on May 30. After a match and a goal with Les Bleues at the Euro, MAK, injured, leaves the adventure prematurely.