France F-Ireland F: Karchaoui and Cascarino on fire against a helpless opponent... The tops and the flops

TOPS

The French women's team was clearly superior to Ireland (1-0) this Friday, during the first day of the Euro 2025 qualifiers. Among the positive points, we can highlight the left side put in place by Hervé Renad. Sakina Karchaoui and Delphine Cascarino put the Irish defense through hell. The quality of the PSG player's center as well as the speed of the Lyonnaise represented poison for the visitors. All that was missing was a goal from one of the two players for the perfect evening.

Victory was already imperative. Placed in the group of death - with Ireland, Sweden and England - the French selection had to obtain three points against an opponent within their reach. And there was no photo. 74% possession, 21 shots (including 8 on target) to one, nine corners to zero… The Blues were superior in all aspects of the game. An important victory from an accounting point of view.

FLOPS

On paper, the French women's team appeared superior to this Irish team. However, Ireland only had one shot on goal, in the 86th minute. A sad statistic. With several players playing in the English championship, one could think that the Irish would try to compete on a physical level. Missed. But even at this level, the pressing was, for example, non-existent. Eileen Gleeson's players defended very low throughout the match. Pretty sad for the show.

The small downside on the Blue side. Hervé Renard announced it during the break: “You must not fall asleep”. They didn't fall asleep. However, Grace Geyoro and her teammates lacked efficiency in the last gesture. 21 shots including 8 on target for a single goal is too few. Certainly Ireland was powerless offensively and that had no impact, but against the next opponents, Sweden and England, the slightest opportunity could be decisive. Note that Courtney Brosnan, the Irish goalkeeper, still had a very good match with some great decisive saves.