After a brilliant World Cup this summer, and before facing Austria on Tuesday in the League of Nations, striker Eugénie Le Sommer seems more brilliant than ever this season in the attack of Les Bleues and Olympique Lyonnais, already darting her rays on the 2024 Olympics. “She has no equal in a penalty area at world level,” coach Hervé Renard had already praised her before the quarter-final lost against Australia (0-0, 7 -6 tab). “I have seen a few like that among men, she is of that quality,” assured the French coach.
Since the “disappointment” of the elimination, the French captain, 34 years old, with 184 selections which makes her the 4th most capped player, author of 3 goals in Oceania, continues her momentum in the World Cup, unsustainable. Like his always intelligent movements, his races, his efficiency in the area and his technical mastery. Her perfectly measured delivery of an outside foot for Grace Geyoro on the first goal against Portugal on Friday in the Nations League (2-0) shows that she is at her best level and in full confidence. She also came close to scoring twice, and was deprived of a fairly obvious penalty.
“I never doubted my qualities, I know what I am capable of, they did not disappear in a few months, it was up to me to rediscover my feelings, and to try to be as liberated as possible to help the team,” the vice-captain of the Bleues told AFP on Wednesday, about her World Cup, where she was “well in her head. I’m not surprised by what I did at the World Cup, it’s more people who are surprised, I knew what I was capable of,” insisted the striker with 92 goals for Les Bleues, before the second Nations League meeting on Tuesday against Austria in Vienna (6:30 p.m.).
Like 33-year-old captain Wendie Renard, she failed three times in a row at the quarter-final stage of the premier competition, after a fourth place in 2011, during their first World Cup. The two thirty-year-olds still seem unshakable in their positions today, even if the competition ahead at OL and among the Blues is intensifying for the Breton, knowing that she was no longer a starter at OL at the end of the season last. “I had to wait my turn and be patient,” she says, relaxed.
The arrival of her compatriot Kadidiatou Diani and the Haitian nugget Melchie Dumornay in the Rhône and the meteoric rise of Vicky Becho (19 years old) do not seem to block the prospects of number 9 for the moment. The Lyon coach, Sonia Bompastor, also started her during the Trophée des champions against PSG (2-0) and during the first day of D1 against Le Havre (4-0), scorer in both matches including a beautiful half-volley . “I am at the coach’s disposal, we have a large squad, it’s up to me to do well and play as many matches as possible,” commented Sommer, who feels “no stress. I’m in Lyon, it’s my 14th season, there have always been great players, that’s how we perform, I’ve evolved my entire career with a lot of competition,” she continued. .
Among the Blues, the competition is also fierce: Delphine Cascarino must also return during the season, like Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who replayed her first minutes with PSG. Two essential players in attack if they are in full possession of their means. But for Le Sommer, Olympic gold at home remains a goal and would be the best ending, knowing that Euro 2025 is coming quickly: “The Olympics are still far away today, even if that is the goal from the end of the season, and it’s in the back of my mind,” she said. “I don’t know if it will be the last (Editor’s note: competition with the Blues), we’ll see, I don’t set a limit for myself.”