Paris (AFP)

Victorious but hard-working in Serbia, the French women's team hopes to "win with style" on Tuesday (9:00 pm) in a qualifying match for the Euro in North Macedonia around captain Eugenie Le Sommer, a record hunter in need of success.

"We were all aware that it was not our best match" Friday in Subotica against the Serbs (2-0 victory), so we must "try to win with the manner" against the penultimate European nation in the Fifa rankings , summed up the Lyon striker on Monday to the press.

On paper, there is little doubt about the victory, despite the cautious formulas to which the 31-year-old has resorted: "We have already seen in the past that there could be surprises so it is up to us to be vigilant and focused" .

The main stake does not lie so much in the final score as the content proposed by the players of Corinne Deacon, sheltered in Serbia after two goals in the first quarter of an hour, before offering a rather dull performance and boring.

"We lacked mobility, technical accuracy in certain phases of the game - we are not going to hide - we have not seen a great team from France," admitted the coach on Monday, nevertheless anxious to be positive.

"Sometimes you have to know how to play well + badly, the important thing was above all to score quickly".

In his defense, the Blue are private for their first gathering of the season of a slew of executives, starting with central defenders Wendie Renard and Griedge Mbock, as well as midfielders Amandine Henry and Grace Geyoro.

- Automation to find -

The forfeit stunt and the lack of rhythm have often been put forward as mitigating circumstances by Deacon and his players, but the composition retained in Serbia, with five strikers lined up at the kick-off around the only midfielder Charlotte Bilbault, did not no longer helped.

"The automatisms do not come with three training sessions or a single match, each one must be able to appropriate the qualities of each other and adapt his game according to that", wants to retain Deacon, stressing that the players who made his debut against Serbia "made an effort and respected the instructions".

Captain in the absence of Amandine Henry, Le Sommer admits having struggled in this ultra-offensive system where the attackers sometimes stepped on their feet, and in a position where she is not "the most comfortable". .

"Until proved to the contrary, she did not play a defender", cut the coach short: "There she plays in an axial position which must suit her", the Lyonnaise "had opportunities" but "she missed the last gesture ".

- The Bouhaddi soap opera -

In Sköpje, the striker with 171 caps (80 goals) will want to set the sights to finally equal the record of goals under the blue tunic which has eluded him for four matches.

"This record is in the back of his mind and as long as it is not broken, it will be difficult" but "I think that tomorrow we will not talk about it any more!", Deacon wished.

Equal or even exceed the record of 81 goals held by Marinette Pichon since 2006 would also bring a little blue in the sky of the selection, shaded since the historic goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi (149 selections) refused to play again with the team of France.

The story bounced back on Monday with an article in the daily L'Equipe explaining that "Bouhaddi let the coach know by SMS that as long as she (Deacon) was in office, she would not return to the selection", delivering a different version of the simple "pause" ordered by the person concerned.

"She expressed that obviously I was the cause (of her choice) to no longer come to the France team", confirmed Deacon half-heartedly.

"Now the France team does not belong to anyone, neither to the players nor to the coach".

It is not Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, the former goalkeeper number 2 of Les Bleues, who will complain.

Tuesday, the player of Atlético Madrid should honor her sixth selection.

In the previous five, she has never conceded a single goal.

© 2020 AFP