Murska Sobota (Slovenia) (AFP)

Led and battered, joined at the very end of the match despite a double from Marie-Antoinette Katoto, the France team finally dismissed Slovenia (3-2) with a penalty from Amel Majri in added time, Tuesday in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup.

In the small stadium of Murska Sobota (northeast), with the dented lawn, the Blue avoided the trap despite a false start and an unbreathable end of the match.

Majri did not shake to offer the victory in the 94th minute, responding to the penalty of the local captain Mateja Zver registered six minutes earlier (88th).

The daughters of Corinne Deacon, clumsy in attack, feverish in defense in the first period, cashed the opener after only twenty minutes, giving hope of entry to the modest 49th team in the Fifa rankings.

Fortunately, the Blue made their status known thanks to Katoto (28th, 60th), in particular.

This allows them to leave the cold Prekmurje, a region neighboring Austria and Hungary, with the group's first place warm in the suitcases, tied on points with Wales.

They will face their most serious rival in November, after meeting Estonia and Kazakhstan in the meantime.

In Slovenia, Deacon had chosen to renew almost the entire team aligned at kickoff Friday in Greece (10-0).

By favoring continuity rather than rotation, the coach was not rewarded.

His only change was however also the most significant, but it did not respond to a sporting choice.

Reduced by muscle discomfort in his right thigh, Wendie Renard was indeed forced to give way to Parisian Elisa De Almeida.

In the absence of the Lyonnaise, appointed captain at the start of the school year, the French defense pitched as rarely, cold by the rapid projections of the Slovenes.

- Katoto serial-goalscorer -

Slovenia bet on its own qualities and took advantage of French faults, as evidenced by the opening scoring: on a failed slalom by Amel Majri, Charlotte Bilbault lets Lara Prašnikar slip away to the left, Marion Torrent and Aïssatou Tounkara watch Mateja Zver cross, Sakina Karchaoui gets caught and Lara Prašnikar, happy with the loose marking of De Elmeida, stings her ball in front of Pauline Peyraud-Magnin (20th).

While the half-thousand spectators exulted in the small Mestni stadion Fazanerija, Deacon displayed his face of bad days.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto during a qualifying match for Eurola North Macedonia in Orleans, October 23, 2020 FRANCK FIFE AFP / Archives

Not sharp enough, clumsy in sequences, the Blue almost suffered once again the broth after a poorly negotiated corner.

On the counter-attack, Karchaoui is caught and Bilbault is left behind in the race by Zver, whose powerful shot is repelled by Peyraud-Magnin (41st).

The Blue, however, regained color thanks to Katoto, a double scorer with the head on a free kick from Majri (28th) then a cross from Sandy Baltimore (60th), decisive passer four minutes after his stirring entry into play. After a hat-trick in Greece, his first in the national team, Katoto brings his total of goals to ten in six matches with the Blue.

© 2021 AFP