• The draw for the Women's Euro 2022 takes place this Thursday in London. 

  • Seeded, the France team, which has never passed the quarter-final stage, aims to be part of the contenders for the title.

  • From the perspective of this competition, coach Corinne Deacon, after the great tensions of last season, seems to have changed the way she manages her group.

It was almost exactly a year ago. The French women's team caught fire, with the speeches of Sarah Bouhaddi and Amandine Henry, who had decided to let go about the management of Corinne Deacon. A few months earlier, another historical, Eugénie Le Sommer, had prepared the ground. The words in particular of Henry, who had described on Canal a "total chaos" and "girls crying in their room" during the World Cup, had set off the blaze.

After a troubled season, the coach has cleared up, seeking to create a new dynamic for next summer.

After the failure in the quarter-finals of the World Cup at home, in 2019, she knows she is expected during the Euro, the draw of which takes place this Thursday (6 p.m.).

The slingers are no longer called (Bouhaddi has withdrawn itself), and it is hard to imagine seeing them again one day, even if they remain "selectable", according to official communication.

Among those who poured out, only Wendie Renard is still there.

"She shows that she can go back on decisions"

La Réunion is a special case. Stunned by the loss of the captain's armband at the arrival of Deacon in 2017, and especially by the way in which it had been notified to her, she had engaged in a frontal attack against the boss in her autobiography published in December 2019. The two women had explained themselves, and today, the defender has become the emblem of the new Deacon method. Or at least, that of a calm climate internally.

“She spoke about it, she questioned herself, we feel that the players are happy that Wendie Renard is getting the armband.

It has freed some of them, notes the former international Laura Georges, who comments on the matches of the Blue on W9.

It is an additional step, an evolution.

She continues to learn on herself, she shows that she can go back on decisions, in any case evolve on some of them, and that's good.

"

A beginning of self-criticism

The breeder has indeed put water in her wine.

"It was unexpected, but she took the step towards me," said the player after the game against Greece in September.

We discussed, the most important thing is to move forward.

“Beyond the Lyon defender, Deacon has introduced a new way of doing things on a daily basis during gatherings.

"I try to be a little closer to them on the off times," she told

L'Equipe

at the beginning of the month.

I forbade myself to leave them alone.

But, in the course of certain discussions, I felt that the hindsight that I was taking for their good, they did not see it like that.

I wanted to leave them alone so badly that I certainly cut myself off from them at some point.

I drew conclusions from it.

"

Prepare for the Euro

The difference is already being felt. "The feedback I have is very positive," reports the agent of one of the players. He does not want to expand further, a little tired of the debates around the coach. It can be heard. The personality of the former coach of Clermont magnetized the discussions all last season, until the intervention became essential of the president of the FFF. “There were small slippages of some players, Corinne Deacon did not soften the atmosphere, had recognized Noël Le Graët. But since then things have changed. She heard the message. "

After a final jolt in July with the departure of assistant coach Eric Blahic, with whom agreement was impossible, as explained by RMC, the Bleues opened a new chapter in September.

Four games, four wins, 29 goals scored, qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, admittedly in a low-level group, is off to a good start.

Above all, things are slowly taking shape in view of the Euro.

France-Estonia, 11-0: all goals!

#FRAEST #FiersdetreBleues pic.twitter.com/4Ru7i0l2ms

- French team ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) October 23, 2021

A young generation, led by Parisians Kadidiatou Diani (26), Grace Geyoro (24) and Katoto (22), is taking up space.

A second wave, represented by Sandy Baltimore (21) and Melvine Malard, author at the same age of her first goals in Blue Tuesday in Kazakhstan, is even already there.

Laura Georges observes:

“They integrate the group little by little.

There is a good mix between experienced girls and young shoots.

We feel a lot more serenity in the team, the atmosphere is more relaxed, it shows in the attitudes of the players and the coach.

There are smiles, joy, some players testify to the fact that they take pleasure in seeing the France team live in this way.

They feel comfortable.

It is important, eight months from the Euro.

"

After having stumbled at the quarter-finals stage in the last three editions, the France team intends to pass a plateau next summer.

The rivals - England, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden - are still there, but the Blues have a seeded status to honor.

And Corinne Deacon a contemptor to make lie.

“Winning a title with this coach seems impossible to me.

I can put my two hands to cut that the France team will not win the Euro if Corinne Deacon remains, “said Sarah Bouhaddi at the time.

Answer in a few months.

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