Group F as easy?

Wendie Renard's France was placed in a very lenient group on Saturday, October 22, during the draw for the 2023 World Cup, with Brazil as their main opponent in Australia.

Nine months before the tournament in the southern hemisphere, the horizon cleared during a happy ceremony for Les Bleues during the draw at the Aotea Center in Auckland.

"When you're a coach, there's never an easy group," coach Corinne Deacon told AFP.

"On paper, you would assume that France and Brazil will finish first and second. I just wish it was in that order."

The semi-finalists of the last Euro have an appointment on July 23 in Sydney against Jamaica.

They will then go to Brisbane to face the Seleçao six days later, before returning to Sydney on August 2 to meet a roadblocker (among Taiwan, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea and Panama) whose identity will be known in February.

The tricolor team will therefore establish its base camp in Australia, where it will play all its tournament matches.

Deacon is "delighted" because "the trip is shorter" from France, "there is less jet lag" and, in the event of a first round in New Zealand, "we would have had to come back to Australia, so travel again , it would have been a little heavier logistics“, she explained.

𝙏𝙄𝙍𝘼𝙂𝙀 𝘼𝙐 𝙎𝙊𝙍𝙏 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙋𝙀 𝘿𝙐 𝙈𝙊𝙉𝘿𝙀 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 🌏 𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑷𝑬


𝑭 𝑭 for the Blue:


🇫🇷 France


🇯🇲 Jamaica


🇧🇷 Brazil


❓ Winner Play-Off Group C #FiersDetrebleues pic.twitter.com/hbzlcvf36j

- French Women's Team (@equipedefranceF) October 22, 2022

The distant USA         

On the way to the final, on August 20 in Sydney, Les Bleues are sure not to cross paths with the United States, double reigning world champions who had broken their title dream in 2019 at home.

Megan Rapinoe's "Team USA" is poured into another part of the table.

Coming out alive from the group stage does not seem too complicated an objective for the French women to achieve, especially since the first two places offer a jump seat for the round of 16 of this first Women's World Cup for two organizing countries, in Oceania and thirty-two teams.

The French, fifth in the Fifa rankings, benefited from a seeded status which sheltered them in the first round from any shock against the United States, the English freshly titled at the European Championship, or even the Germany, Spain, Sweden and the two host countries.

A bad pick was not to be excluded among the members of hat 2. But they dodged the Canadian Olympic champions, Norway of Ada Hegerberg, Japan crowned in 2011 and the Netherlands of Vivianne Miedema.

Instead, they fell to Brazil, a team that has never beaten them.

This will awaken the memory of the 2019 World Cup, an unbreathable round of 16 in Le Havre won 2-1 in extra time thanks to a goal from Amandine Henry.

Shaw, familiar face             

In hat 3, Pernille Harder's Denmark had to be avoided and the tricolors inherited Jamaica.

The opponent is unknown to Les Bleues, but not his striker Khadija Shaw (Manchester City), who passed through Bordeaux.

“We will simply have to wean her off the ball,” commented Deacon.

For its part, New Zealand fell on Norway, the Philippines and Switzerland.

Australia will meet the Republic of Ireland, Nigeria and especially Canada.

In Group E, there will be a repeat of the 2019 final between the United States and the Netherlands.

The pool will be completed by Vietnam and a play-off.

The ninth Women's World Cup will be unprecedented in more than one round: the first with thirty-two teams, the first in the southern hemisphere and the first to be co-organized by two countries.

After the audience success of the 2019 edition in France, Fifa hopes to transform the test in Oceania.

But the world governing body of football comes up against the reluctance of some broadcasters who are reluctant to pay television broadcasting rights at their fair value.

The "broadcasters offer us 100 times less than what they offer us for the men's World Cup", denounced the boss of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, on the sidelines of the draw.

The leader deemed these offers "unacceptable", especially since the television channels "urge us to do more for equality".

With AFP

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