The twenty-three French women selected for the tournament in England (July 6-31) were welcomed by coach Corinne Deacon in the former hunting lodge, which has become the official residence of the selection, under the watchful eye of a handful of photographers. .

The Montpellier Marrion Torrent and the Parisian Sakina Karchaoui arrived first in the middle of the morning, before being joined by the rest of the troop and in particular Wendie Renard, the captain all smiles.

The gaze was more focused on the side of Deacon who, for a dozen minutes, traced the thread of the past days and drew up the program to come in front of the journalists who came to the Yvelines to attend his first press conference.

"The excitement will come as we get closer to July 10", date of the first match against Italy, delayed the boss of the Blue.

"The Euro is so far for me, she continued. We are in the work, in the reflection, in the analysis, in the adaptation".

Cohesion and suffering

Refuting any "impatience", Deacon, in office since 2017, depicted a group "serene" and "happy to meet again" after a first gathering of "cohesion" last week in Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), without a ball and focused on "physical and mental regeneration".

Captain Wendie Renard arrives at Clairefontaine for the preparation of the Euro, June 14, 2022 FRANCK FIFE AFP

Les Bleues breathed the fresh air of the Atlantic from Thursday to Sunday, under the sun, with some fun activities such as an introduction to ovality supervised by Thomas Darracq, the coach of the French women's rugby team.

The intensity slider will gradually rise in Clairefontaine, between daily training and the friendly matches scheduled against Cameroon and Vietnam, respectively on June 25 in Beauvais and July 1 in Orléans.

Katoto, unsettled future

Six is ​​the number of matches expected for the French in England: first the three of the first round against Italy, Belgium and Iceland then, in the event of qualification, the quarter-final, the half and the final, scheduled for July 31 in the London temple of Wembley.

Until then, the France team can be satisfied with not having any injuries to deplore.

In addition to Renard, the other headliners are all present, from Grace Geyoro to Sakina Karchaoui via Delphine Cascarino, Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto.

Striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto on her arrival at the Château de Clairefontaine for the preparation of the Euro, June 14, 2022 FRANCK FIFE, FRANCK FIFE AFP

The latter, at the end of her contract with Paris SG (which is seeking to extend it), is coveted by the biggest teams but, at 23, she is slow to decide the question of her future, despite the injunction made by Deacon to decide before the start of the preparation.

"It's ongoing," Deacon replied.

"There are things that we do not control and neither does she. She will make sure that the situation is resolved as quickly as possible", she continued at the place of the nugget of her attack, arrived at Clairefontaine with a bag adorned with an Eiffel Tower, "Paris" written just above.

© 2022 AFP