Nations League F: one month after the World Cup, the Blues are back with the Olympics in the back of their minds

More than a month after their elimination in the quarter-final of the World Cup in Australia, the Blues meet Portugal in the Women's Nations League on Friday in Valenciennes (9:10 p.m.), a first meeting to launch their Olympic year.

After the tears of August 12 in Brisbane, eyes are fixed on the horizon of the Olympics. For the third time in a row, the Blues left the World Cup at the gates of the final four, after a stifling penalty shootout which turned in favor of Australia (0-0, 7-6 tab).

This dark series is enough to raise doubts one year before the home Games, but the Blue seem to want to sweep away these fears at the dawn of this new season, which begins Friday with this brand new competition, also qualifying for the Olympics. First against Portugal, before going to play in Austria on Tuesday.

“We are focused on the League of Nations tomorrow against an opponent who is of high quality, particularly during the World Cup against the United States, the Netherlands and in preparation against England,” explained Hervé Renard on Thursday at the conference of press. According to him, it is also “better to play these matches than to play friendly matches which are less interesting”.

Already qualified as hosts, the Blues, who “showed a good image during the World Cup”, will be able to use this first women's edition of the Nations League to maintain this positive group dynamic and accumulate experience.

Because according to captain Wendie Renard, it was “experience” that fished in Oceania: “Many were experiencing their first World Cup and experience cannot be bought. I hope that we will still store up some maturity, some vice,” she stressed to AFP on Wednesday.

For young fullback Selma Bacha, “very solid foundations” were laid in Australia for future competitions. “We had everything, everything was perfect, we spent 52 days together. There was nothing to complain about, it will help us in the future,” she explained to AFP. “After this World Cup, I said that I stopped talking, we just have to act,” continued the 22-year-old Lyon nugget.

But with their new boss, the Blues have good reasons to believe in an international title: their consistency at the highest level - systematic quarter-finals in major competitions since 2009 - and their squad.

The association between the most experienced (Renard, Eugénie Le Sommer) and the youngest (Bacha, Lakrar, Becho) works, just like the Renard method, a selector who is both protective, demanding and responsible towards his executives. and focusing his off-field work on the mind.

“He missed a lot of little things, but the mental aspect is important to the extent that you put your game in place, because it is also a strength of character to be able to do it against any team,” confided to AFP Eugénie Le Sommer, 34 years old.

One year before the Olympic Games, the second objective of Hervé Renard's two-year contract, the Blues can also count on the return of the injured.

For this first post-World Cup gathering, Hervé Renard also recalled defender Griedge Mbock, back after a knee injury, and Amandine Henry, who had been forced to withdraw from the World Cup.

Not called up for Australia but present at this gathering, PSG striker Sandy Baltimore was absent from training on Thursday due to knee discomfort, according to the Blue staff.

In the group to face Portugal at the Hainaut stadium, where 17,000 of the 20,000 seats have been sold, three globalists are missing: defender and revelation Maëlle Lakrar, midfielder Kenza Dali and Naomie Feller, injured.

The coach should soon recover Marie-Antoine Katoto, who has been away from the field for more than a year due to a serious knee injury and who played again with PSG last weekend.