Well launched in its World Cup, the French women’s team challenges Morocco on Tuesday (1:00 p.m.) for a place in the quarter-finals, a poster as unexpected as it is symbolic for Hervé Renard and several players, in Adelaide. On the shores of the Indian Ocean blows a Mediterranean wind: the discreet enclosure of the Hindmarsch Stadium, the smallest of the tournament (less than 14,000 seats), hosts an emotionally charged round of 16 between two countries with strong ties.
Which nation will join Australia in the quarter-finals for a summit against co-hosts on Saturday in Brisbane? One thing is certain, his coach will be French: Hervé Renard like Reynald Pedros look like pack leaders at the head of the Bleues and the Lionesses of the Atlas.
“It’s a wink of fate,” remarked Pedros, who knows Les Bleues by heart for having trained six during his time in Lyon as coach (2017-19). As for Renard, who arrived in the spring to guide France to a long-awaited first international title, he has “wonderful memories” of Morocco, whose men’s team he led between 2016 and 2019.
Rich in symbols, this match at the other end of the world also revives a more recent memory, that of the France-Morocco semi-final of the Qatari World Cup (2-0), almost eight months ago. Launched into a similar epic and even less expected than their male counterparts, the Atlas Lionesses are living a waking dream in Australia, for the first World Cup in their history.
The France of Wendie Renard and Kadidiatou Diani, 5th nation in the world, cannot afford the slightest misstep against the Moroccans, the lowest ranked team in the eighth (72nd). An elimination would indeed suddenly extinguish all the promises made by Hervé Renard, appointed in April at the head of the Blue. “Even when we play a small game with friends, we do it to win it,” warned Hervé Renard, refusing to give in to the emotion of this reunion.
“It’s up to us not to fall into the trap of thinking that our course is easier than another,” warned midfielder Kenza Dali, precious in group matches against Brazil (2-1), a “reference match” whose Bleues want to help themselves. Too many favorites (Germany, Canada, United States) have already fallen in this World Cup rich in surprises for the Blues to have the nerve to imagine themselves in the quarters too quickly.
With a team combining local players from AS FAR (Rabat), the main women’s club in the country, and recently convinced binationals, the Atlas Lionesses are counting on surfing on an insane dynamic, the one that allowed them to recover after a slap suffered entry against Germany (6-0).
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At their head, Pedros symbolizes this nation in full development. “I am French and my staff is French. But my heart is Moroccan. I will have no remorse or scruple to beat France, ”enthuses the former star of Nantes. Like France-Morocco in December, this duel in women’s football – only the second in history – also takes on a particular dimension for the hundreds of thousands of dual nationals living in France, suggesting a peak in audience. despite the time difference.
This unique landscape also resonates differently for several actresses of the meeting. Morocco’s squad has seven players born in France and even more binationals who have passed through D1 in France. For the French Grace Geyoro and the Moroccan Anissa Lahmari, it is even a reunion between close friends.
And on the Miramas side near Marseille, the family of Blue defender Sakina Karchaoui, born in France to Moroccan parents, is about to experience a unique moment. “We know the place that Morocco has in our family, just like France,” says the Paris SG player. “It’s going to be a match full of emotions.”
