Cyrille de la Morinerie 6:26 a.m., July 23, 2022
The French women's football team faces the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of Euro 2022 this Saturday.
Kick-off will be at 9 p.m. in Rotterdam, northeast England.
After finishing at the top of their group, the French women are now attacking the knockout phase: it passes or it breaks.
After 3 years of preparation, work and questioning, Les Bleues pass the ultimate test.
This Saturday, the French, world number 3 in the FIFA rankings, do have a chance to win the Euro 2022 trophy despite the absence of their star Marie-Antoinette Katoto who is injured.
After being caught on the wire by Iceland which ended a series of 16 straight victories, the French must raise their level of play. Corinne Deacon's players want to break the curse of the quarter-finals, stage that they have never managed to overcome in a Euro.
It was also in the quarter that the adventure ended at the last World Cup.
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The prowess of the Dutch
Grace Geyoro, the top scorer of Les Bleues in this Euro with four achievements, is determined at the dawn of the meeting.
"It will be up to us to put our game in place as we were able to do in the first half against Italy, to keep our efficiency because we know that during this kind of meeting, it can be complicated to put them in the bottom. So it will start from the first minute of the match, so we will have to be well concentrated," she said.
But beware: opposite are the formidable players of the Netherlands.
The Batavians, defending champions and finalists of the last World Cup organized in France.
The Dutch have made their offensive power speak by scoring 7 goals in the last two matches of this Euro football.