Football: Corinne Deacon in turmoil five months before the 2023 Women's World Cup
Corinne Deacon, coach of the France women's football team, during the France-Norway match, November 11, 2022. © AFP / JOSE JORDAN
Text by: Valentin Berg Follow
3 mins
Corinne Deacon, the coach of the France women's football team, is at the heart of criticism after the announcement of several French international players, including captain Wendie Renard, to withdraw from the selection.
With just a few months to go before the next Women's World Cup (July 20 to August 20, 2023), the French coach finds herself in a delicate position and could see her tenure cut short sooner than expected.
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A turning point for the French women's team?
Corinne Deacon, the coach of the France team, has been disavowed by three of her executive players
and finds herself very weakened a few months before the 2023 Women's World Cup. After putting her international career on hold on February 24, the captain of the France team Wendie Renard was quickly imitated by the two attackers Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto.
And this may just be the beginning.
Two other players from the French women's team, defenders Griedge Mbock and Perle Morroni, joined forces this Saturday, February 25 with their teammates and point to the internal dysfunctions in the selection.
“
I in turn wish to express myself in relation to the situation and join them against the management system of the current France team for having suffered from it personally
”, commented Perle Morroni.
Usual framework of the Blue but injured since September, Griedge Mbock denounced "
the gap that remains between the current organization, the expectations that we have and the means that we are given to fight at the highest level
".
✊🏾✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/cU3nqAndH0
— Griedge Mbock (@MGriedge) February 25, 2023
The Tricolores have also received strong support, since Ada Hegerberg and Megan Rapinoe, the first two winners of the Women's Ballon d'Or, welcomed on Twitter the position of the French players.
“
How long will we have to go through these moments to be respected?
I'm with you, Wendie, and with anyone else going through the same thing.
It's time to act
, ”commented the Norwegian international and teammate of Renard at Olympique Lyonnais.
How long will we have to go through these lengths for us to be respected?
I'm with you, Wendie, and with everyone else going through the same processes.
🫶
Time to act.
https://t.co/hD9cUyFD9F
— Ada S Hegerberg (@AdaStolsmo) February 24, 2023
Corinne Deacon, an evil that lasts
This is not the first time that Corinne Deacon has been criticized during her tenure.
Her rigid management of the France group and her choices sometimes deemed unpredictable had already created dissension between her and the team's executives in recent years.
After the failure of the 2019 World Cup in France, Gaëtane Thiney notably called on Corinne Deacon to "
modernize
" her management.
Goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, who had decided to take a break with the selection, explained that it seemed to her "
impossible to win a title with this coach
".
More recently, the Hamraoui-Diallo affair also weakened the locker room during the surprise recall of the midfielder, little selected in the past, in February 2022 then in February 2023. His return is poorly received by Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who react by celebrating a goal in support of Diallo under the eyes of Hamraoui.
At the end of Euro 2022, where the Tricolores were eliminated in the semi-final against Germany (2-1), Corinne Deacon was immediately extended by the president of the French Football Federation Noël Le Graët until 2024. But the poor results of Les Bleues in recent months, including defeats in Germany and Sweden, a sluggish victory against Denmark and a draw against Norway, have raised concern.
“
For several years, they played the game and put the critics aside.
But the situation has become too heavy
, ”says the entourage of several players.
It now remains to be seen whether this crisis which is agitating the French women's team will have the same repercussions as the episode of Knysna for their male counterparts during the 2010 World Cup. The recent withdrawal of Noël Le Graët, its main support, could finally seal the fate of Corinne Deacon at the head of the selection at the meeting of the executive committee of the FFF scheduled for February 28.
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