Paris (AFP)
Two absent and a ghost: the coach Corinne Deacon has again done without Amandine Henry and Eugénie Le Sommer, historical figures of the Blue, for the October matches, while summoning Thursday the Parisian Kheira Hamraoui, no longer seen in the selection for two and a half years.
With each list announcement, the coach of the France team still manages to create the event and continues to maintain her line, between renewal and experience.
His list of re-entry in September had made a lot of talk with the sidelining of these two executives, a choice at "the moment T" which nevertheless seems set to last.
Nine months before the Euro played in England, Henry and Le Sommer (32 years old each) now know that their long, rich international experience and their club record do not weigh heavily in the face of the renewal desired by Deacon, which will do without them. for the qualifying matches for the 2023 World Cup against Estonia on October 22 in Créteil, then on October 26 in Nur-Sultan against Kazakhstan.
"The door is not closed to anyone, now I make choices. The proof is today with this list, with the return of some players and the arrival of young players," said Deacon, asked about the absence of the Lyon midfielder and the attacker loaned to OL Reign.
And the coach insists: "I build things around certain people by trying to keep this balance between continuity and renewal, experience and youth".
- Fox in the infirmary -
The Lyon contingent, long the backbone of the Blue, is greatly reduced this time, as much by choice as by constraint.
Blocked in the infirmary, Amel Majri (knee), Wendie Renard (thigh) and Griedge Mbock (muscle injury) will see their teammates Perle Morroni, Melvine Malard and Delphine Cascarino join Clairefontaine without them.
In this context, the return of Kheira Hamraoui constitutes an event.
The neo-Parisienne, free arrival from FC Barcelona this summer, has known only one small selection since the start of the term of Deacon started in 2017.
It was April 2019 and the midfielder had played only a handful of minutes at the end of a friendly against Japan, failing to convince the manager to take her to the contested World Cup two. months later in France.
The captain of the Bleues Wendy Renard, in action against Belgium in a friendly on July 7, 2017 in Montpellier, is injured in a thigh SYLVAIN THOMAS AFP / Archives
The hat-trick achieved with Barça at the end of last season (Championship, Queen's Cup and Champions League) revived the questions surrounding the player with 36 caps.
- Hamraoui, from spite to a return to grace -
"I haven't taken her all season, just because she won three titles doesn't mean I'm going to take her," Deacon replied in June, preferring to retain Sandie Toletti.
"I have no problem with Kheira. It is a solely sporting decision. No decision is ever final, one way or another," she was careful to add.
The 31-year-old player then displayed some annoyance on social networks: "I miss you so much France team ... What more could I have done to be able to find you?".
Kheira Hamraoui with PSG against the Chicago Red Stars during a friendly tournament in Louisville, August 21, 2021 Tim Nwachukwu Getty / AFP / Archives
"I will have to have a discussion with her, on the motivations which pushed me to take it back," Deacon said Thursday, hoping to count on her "experience", but also saying that the staff will be "attentive" to his attitude in the locker room.
"You need this mixture of performance on the ground and a good state of mind in group life".
For this second internship of the season, Deacon also recalled Hawa Cissoko, the defender of West Ham to the two selections in 2017, and the 19-year-old Reims striker Naomie Feller, a novice in the France team and who takes the place of Valérie. Gauvin.
The latter "underwent a small meniscal intervention" last summer and is lessened by "a still painful knee," she said.
"I prefer to leave her with her club so that she will recover well, find some playing time and come back to great shape with us."
© 2021 AFP