Deleterious atmosphere in the French women's team.

Captain Amandine Henry sent a round of criticism to coach Corinne Deacon on Sunday, November 15 after her non-selection.

With the approach of the disclosure of the full list for the next meetings of the Blue, the relationship problems between the coach and her players continue to plague the situation.

The French Football Federation (FFF) still supports Corinne Deacon.

Since her induction in 2017, the boss of the Bleues has quarreled with the majority of the executives who form both the backbone of Olympique Lyonnais and the French selection: goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi (who stepped back since the summer), defender Wendie Renard, midfielder Amandine Henry and striker Eugénie Le Sommer, with whom she has since reconciled.

🗨️ "Now is the time to solve the problems, not in three years (...)"



The strong words of Amandine Henry who evokes her discomfort in the France team and her conflict with Corinne Deacon for the # CFC 🎙️🇫🇷



The interview in full ▶ ️: https://t.co/pMTfZgCRUT pic.twitter.com/hSyXtRzjK8

- Canal Football Club (@CanalFootClub) November 16, 2020

The multi-titled stars of OL, used to having free rein in the club, collide in the blue jersey with the management considered brutal of the coach, torn between contradictory feelings of "joy and fear" during the gatherings, according to Amandine Henry.

Not selected in October, under "sporting criteria" according to Deacon, the captain was "shocked" by the way she was warned the day before the list: "The call lasted fourteen, fifteen seconds, I m ' I will remember all my life, "she told Sunday on Canal +.

For Amandine Henry, it is not only a sling of Lyonnaises towards Corinne Deacon: "It is the feeling of the majority of the team, assures the player. Some girls do not dare to speak. There are fear. [...] I understand them. I am 31 years old, I am a captain, if I do not speak, who will speak? "

"Very negative climate"

The episode is reminiscent of the one reported by Wendie Renard when the new coach, in 2017, announces to him that she is withdrawing the armband.

"Four years of captaincy swept away in less than five minutes," said the defender in her book "My star".

At the exit of the book, in December 2019, Deacon wanted to sanction the player but she encountered the refusal of Noël Le Graët, who then judged "not very adroit" to publicly return to "the facts of the locker room and the past".

"I would have preferred that she did not talk about this episode. (...) Especially today, the two got along perfectly well", then assured the president of the FFF to AFP.

The management of this latent conflict has apparently not contributed to the appeasement of the spirits, and the pressure is still mounted a notch after the media release of the captain, three months after the withdrawal of the goalkeeper number 1 Bouhaddi (149 selections), exasperated by the "very, very negative climate" among the Blue.

"The situation can not be worse", sighs Sonia Souid, Henry's agent, who appeals directly to Le Graët: "Important players, and several, have stepped up to the plate, he can no longer play the politics of the 'ostrich."

As long as the results are there, Corinne Deacon will not budge

Before the shock against Austria on November 27 in qualifying for the Euro, the president called on each party to "make an effort".

“Being in conflict with the best players in France is not sustainable,” he told L'Équipe on Sunday evening.

The Breton leader, after having confirmed Deacon as being "the woman of the situation" the day after the elimination in the quarter-finals of the World Cup-2019 at home against the United States (2-1), has since taken refuge behind the balance sheet sportsman of the former coach of Clermont (L2), undefeated since the World Cup.

"I prefer someone rigid who wins matches than someone very smiling who does not win", he hammered Sunday.

In October, the person herself recalled opportunely to have the "support of the federation".

"I have choices to make, they may not please, others may do differently. But this role, it belongs to me", she said to the press, slipping on occasion that his post made "people jealous".

Unless there is a deterioration in sports, the hypothesis of a dismissal of Deacon, under contract until 2022, therefore does not appear on the agenda.

Anxious not to give too much power to Lyonnaises who, in a club, can decide the future of their coach, Le Graët can also hardly appoint a new coach four months before the elections to the FFF, whether he is or not a candidate.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR