Soccer World Cup 2015 / France

This article is about the French women's national soccer team at the 2015 World Cup in Canada . This was France's third World Cup participation after 2003 and 2011 . The World Cup also served the European teams as qualification for the football tournament at the 2016 Olympic Games , in which Europe is entitled to three starting places.

qualification

→ Main article : 2015 Women's World Cup / Qualification

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	P.
1	France	10	10	0	0	54: 03	30th
2	Austria	10	7th	0	3	31:14	21st
3	Finland	10	7th	0	3	27: 09	21st
4th	Hungary	10	4th	0	6th	20:25	12
5	Kazakhstan	10	1	1	8th	08:30	04th
6th	Bulgaria	10	0	1	9	03:62	01

The French women achieved the following results in European qualification group 7:

Kazakhstan - France 0: 4 and 0: 7
Austria - France 1: 3 and 1: 3
Bulgaria - France 0:10 and 0:14
France - Hungary 4: 0 and 4: 0
Finland - France 0: 2 and 1: 3

Despite the supposedly clear lead of the Bleues in the final classification, they did not finally qualify until the penultimate matchday, because against Finland - which was only three points behind - France only played at the very end, initially with the Scandinavians. With their victory there, however, they could not be overtaken before the second leg.

France's 54 goals were scored by Gaëtane Thiney (13), Marie-Laure Delie (9), Eugénie Le Sommer (7), Wendie Renard (5), Camille Abily , Élise Bussaglia and Louisa Nécib (4 each), Élodie Thomis (3), Sabrina Delannoy , Amandine Henry , Laura Georges and Amel Majri (1 each); in addition there was an own goal by the Hungarian Angéla Smuczer .

World Cup preparation

Bouhaddi Delannoy Georges Renard Houara (Majri) Henry (Hamraoui) Bussaglia (Abily) Nécib dali (Thomis) Thiney Le summer (Delie) Stammelf fall 2014

After France was only fourth twice in its last participations in the major tournaments (World Cup 2011, Olympic Games 2012 ) and even knocked out in the quarter-finals at the 2013 European Championship , the national association and coach Philippe Bergeroo had a podium finish as the goal for this World Cup issued. To this end, the Bleues competed as often as possible against other particularly strong women's groups in advance. They started doing so in June 2014 when they competed on the American continent with Brazil (0-0) and the USA (0-1 and 2-2). The next opponents were Germany's women (October 2014, 2-0 away win) and at the end of November in front of their home crowd New Zealand (2-1 win, mostly with the "second suit") and again Brazil (2-0 in front of over 11,000 spectators in Stade Gerland ) on the program. In February 2015 there was another trial of strength with the US women (2-0 success in front of almost 16,000 visitors at the Stade du Moustoir , which like the World Cup stadiums has artificial turf ), two months later with World Cup host Canada (1 : 0). A game against England agreed a few days before the World Cup group draw was canceled shortly before Christmas 2014 in mutual interest.

In addition, in March 2015 the French decided not to defend their title at the Cyprus Cup , but instead entered the Algarve Cup , where “the French World Cup co-favorite” after victories against the hosts (1-0), Denmark ( 4: 1) and world champions Japan (3: 1) lost the final against the USA with 0: 2 - the first defeat after winning ten games this season, but the best placement in six tournaments so far. The Bleues in Portugal had to do without Louisa Nécib, Laura Georges, Amel Majri and the regular second goalkeeper Celine Deville due to injury , which Bergeroo used to test some additional players under competitive conditions. In the final, he also switched from the usual 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 system , with Diani , Le Sommer and Thiney as real strikers. At the same time, the "second suit", the Équipe de France A '  , a tournament, the Istria Cup , which France finished in fourth after a final 2-1 draw against Austria , also played.

Despite this previously unknown series of successes against some of the strongest competitors, the players remained aware that they were "not allowed to take off" (Camille Abily) because this was "just a test" (Eugénie Le Sommer). The Bleues finally not yet been able to confirm that they are in a position to provide such a service and results even under the pressure of a continental tournament: "We have not won anything yet," but the game play against Japan have shown that attitude and I have developed the ability to turn such a game (Philippe Bergeroo). In the country, however, expectations were high; so overwrote France Football just before the tournament opening an article "Only the title counts".

After two final hardness tests in late May, again on synthetic turf, against Russia (2: 1) and Scotland , the French delegation had arrived nine days before their first game in Canada and had quarters in: (0 1) Laval , a town adjacent Montréal's relative, . There the Bleues won a preparatory match against a selection from the Province of Québec (9-0), whose ranks included Émilie Fillion , a player with Bundesliga experience.

Contingent

At the end of April 2015, Philippe Bergeroo put together a first differentiated squad list, similar to what his colleague Didier Deschamps had done with the men's squad for the 2014 World Cup : 23 women as “first choice”, plus seven additional players (remplaçantes) ; The latter had also completed almost the entire preparation program. Five more women who can compensate for individual failures were added. The final 23 roster for Canada had to be sent to FIFA by May 27, 2015 at the latest; it had the following face:

No.	Surname	society	birthday	Games (goals) before the World Cup (a)0	World Cup 2015
					Sp.	Sp.- Min.	Gates
Goalkeepers
16	Sarah Bouhaddi	Olympique Lyon	10/17/1986	094 0(0)	5	480
01	Celine Deville	Juvisy FCF	01/24/1982	065 0(0)	0
21st	Meline Gérard	Olympique Lyon	05/30/1990	001 0(0)	0
Defenders
03	Laure Boulleau	Paris Saint-Germain	10/22/1986	058 0(0)	4th	348
20th	Annaïg Butel	Juvisy FCF	02/15/1992	008 0(0)	0
05	Sabrina Delannoy (c)	Paris Saint-Germain	05/18/1986	025 0(1)	1	12
04th	Laura Georges	Paris Saint-Germain	08/20/1984	159 0(6)	5	480		1
08th	Jessica Houara	Paris Saint-Germain	09/29/1987	033 0(1)	5	480
22nd	Amel Majri	Olympique Lyon	01/25/1993	007 0(1)	2	210
19th	Griedge Mbock Bathy	EA Guingamp (d)	02/26/1995	009 0(0)	0
02	Wendie Renard	Olympique Lyon	07/20/1990	066 (16)	5	480
Midfielders
10	Camille Abily	Olympique Lyon	05.12.1984	146 (29)	5	447
15th	Élise Bussaglia	Olympique Lyon (e)	09/24/1985	144 (26)	3	93
07th	Kenza Dali	Paris Saint-Germain	07/31/1991	012 0(2)	2	96
23	Kheira Hamraoui	Paris Saint-Germain	01/13/1990	017 0(0)	2	32		1
06th	Amandine Henry	Olympique Lyon	09/28/1989	040 0(3)	5	417	1
14th	Louisa Nécib	Olympique Lyon	01/23/1987	126 (32)	4th	360	1
12	Élodie Thomis	Olympique Lyon	08/13/1986	117 (31)	4th	320	1
Attackers
18th	Marie-Laure Delie	Paris Saint-Germain	01/29/1988	086 (58)	4th	288	3	1
13	Kadidiatou Diani	Juvisy FCF	04/01/1995	006 0(1)	1	6th
11	Claire Lavogez	HSC Montpellier (d)	06/18/1994	010 0(1)	3	81
09	Eugénie Le Sommer	Olympique Lyon	05/18/1989	105 (44)	5	397	3
17th	Gaëtane Thiney	Juvisy FCF	October 28, 1985	122 (55)	5	253
Coaching staff
Philippe Bergeroo		Head coach	01/13/1954	31
Thierry Asseloos		Assistant coach	07/01/1967
Albert Rust		Goalkeeper coach	10/10/1953

The roster included ten players from Lyon, seven from Paris, four from Juvisy and one each from Montpellier and Guingamp. The average age of this line-up on the day of the first French World Cup match was 26.5 years. Bergeroo had a squad with a great international routine; On average, each of the 23 women had 63 full international matches.
Laura Georges has the most experience at world championships, she was the only one who participated in both 2003 and 2011 and was used in nine games. In 2011 the following women were also involved: Abily, Bussaglia, Le Sommer, Nécib, Thiney, Thomis (six missions each), Delie (five), Deville, Renard (three each) and Boulleau (two). Delie, Thiney and Thomis (two each) and once each Georges, Abily and Bussaglia had scoring successes in the previous World Cup finals, all of which scored their goals in 2011. The other French World Cup goalscorers were Marinette Pichon (two, 2003) and Sonia Bompastor (2011).

The seven French reservists were:

No.	Surname	society	birthday	Country games (goals) (a)0
29	Amandine Guérin	ASJ Soyaux	02/18/1993	000 0(0)
26th	Charlotte Bilbault	ASJ Soyaux (f)	06/05/1990	001 0(0)
30th	Julie Soyer	Juvisy FCF	06/30/1985	009 0(0)
27	Marina Makanza (g)	HSC Montpellier	07/01/1991	015 0(0)
24	Marion Torrent (h)	HSC Montpellier	04/17/1992	000 0(0)
25th	Viviane Asseyi	HSC Montpellier	11/20/1993	008 0(0)
28	Clarisse Le Bihan	EA Guingamp	12/14/1994	001 0(0)

^(a) A international matches for France as of May 28, 2015

^(c) deputy captain

^(d) from July 1st: Olympique Lyon

^(e)from July 1st: VfL Wolfsburg

^(f) from July 1st: Juvisy FCF

^(G)Makanza replaced her clubmate Sandie Toletti , who sustained a serious ankle injury in early May .

^(H)Torrent replaced the Parisian Aurélie Kaci , who was diagnosed with a muscular injury at training camp.

Finals matches

Moncton Montréal Ottawa

Venues

Group games

Pl.	Womanhood	Sp.	S.	U	N	T.	P.
1	France	3	2	0	1	6: 2	6th
2	England	3	2	0	1	4: 3	6th
3	Colombia	3	1	1	1	4: 3	4th
4th	Mexico	3	0	1	2	2: 8	1

The fourth in the world rankings found himself in the group draw on December 6, 2014 as one of two European participants in Pot 1 and thus as the group leader. The French women in Group F were drawn from England , Colombia and Mexico . So far, there has been an international match against the two American women's teams (a 5-0 win against Mexico in 2011, a 1-0 win against Colombia at the 2012 Olympic tournament ); England, on the other hand, is one of the most frequent opponents of the Bleues, whose record is also positive here. Among them was a World Cup game, namely the quarter-final game in 2011 , in which France only prevailed on penalties. The group matches were played in Moncton and Ottawa .

June 9, Moncton Stadium : France - England 1: 0 (1: 0)
Line-up: Bouhaddi - Houara, Georges, Renard, Boulleau - Thomis (Dali, 71st), Henry, Abily, Nécib (Lavogez, 87th) - Le Sommer (Bussaglia, 80th), Thiney
goal: 1-0 Le Sommer (29th)
Referee: Efthalia Mitsi (Greece)
Spectators: 11,686
Player of the match: Le Sommer

June 13, Moncton Stadium: France - Colombia 0: 2 (0: 1)
Line-up: Bouhaddi - Houara, Georges, Renard, Boulleau - Dali (Delie, 77th), Bussaglia (Henry, 63rd), Abily, Nécib ( Lavogez, 63rd) - Le Sommer, Thiney
Goals: 0: 1 Andrade (19th), 0: 2 Usme (90th + 3)
Referee: Qin Liang (China)
Spectators: 13,138

June 17, Lansdowne Stadium : France - Mexico 5: 0 (4: 0)
Line-up: Bouhaddi - Houara, Georges, Renard, Boulleau (Delannoy, 78th) - Thomis, Henry, Abily (Bussaglia, 70th), Majri - Le Sommer (Thiney, 63rd), Delie
goals: 1-0 Delie (1st), 2-0 Ruiz (9th / ET), 3-0 Le Sommer (13th), 4-0 Le Sommer (36th) ), 5: 0 Henry (80th)
Referee: Sachiko Yamagishi (Japan)
Spectators: 21,562
Player of the Match: Henry
Special: Delie's goal in the 35th second of the game was the second fastest goal at a Women's World Cup so far.

In the group stage, seven players were always called up in the starting line-up, including the entire defense line and goalkeeper. After the defeat against Colombia, described by some commentators as the first big surprise of the tournament, the coach did without Nécib, whom he replaced with Majri, and Dali completely against Mexico and only brought Thiney in the second half. Overall, however, Bergeroo hardly deviated from the well-rehearsed corset of the eleven: ten women were used in all three games and none of them exclusively as substitutes.

Round of 16

June 21, Montreal Olympic Stadium : France - South Korea 3: 0 (2: 0)
Line-up: Bouhaddi - Houara, Georges, Renard, Boulleau - Thomis, Henry, Abily (Hamraoui, 77th), Nécib - Le Sommer (Thiney, 74th) .), Delie (Diani, 84th)
goals: 1-0 Delie (4th), 2-0 Thomis (8th), 3-0 Delie (48th)
personal penalties: Hamraoui (yellow, 80th)
referee: Salomé Di Iorio (Argentina)
Spectators: 15,518
Player of the Match: Henry

The French had only played against South Korea , the runner-up in Group E , and that also in a World Cup tournament (1-0 victory in the 2003 preliminary round ). Laura Georges was already in France's central defense back then.

The kicker judged the game in Montréal : “As fast as you can and always one step faster. Effective and dominant. The French women were in an extremely strong shape in the round of 16 against South Korea. ”Thanks to this success and the course of the other round of 16 games with European participation, the Bleues also qualified for the 2016 Olympic women's football tournament.

Quarter finals

June 26, Olympiastadion Montréal: France - Germany 1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 0), 4: 5 i. E.
Line-up: Bouhaddi - Houara, Georges, Renard, Majri - Thomis (Lavogez, 69th), Henry, Abily, Nécib - Le Sommer (Thiney, 91st), Delie (Hamraoui, 101st)
Goals: 1-0 Nécib (64th), 1: 1 Šašić (84th, hand penalty )
shooters in the penalty shoot-out : Thiney, Abily, Nécib, Renard (each converted), Lavogez (held)
personal penalties: Delie (yellow, 55th), Georges (yellow, 57.)
Referee: Carol Chenard (Canada)
Spectators: 24,859

This clash of the first against the third in the world rankings was considered by journalists to be the "quarter-finals final". Against Germany , the French record was negative with eight defeats from 13 matches before this World Cup; The Germans also prevailed 4-2 in the group game at the World Cup four years ago. After that, however, the Bleues did not lose against this opponent; there was a 2-0 away win in 2014 and two draws (2012 in Germany 1: 1 and 2013 in France 3: 3).

The fact that the French women, who dominated technically, tactically and in duel behavior over long stretches of the game, were eliminated prematurely, was attributed in particular to the fact that they were unable to convert their high superiority into goals, and prompted a number of commentators to quote the famous Lineker statement “And at the end The Germans always win ”.

Although the French had once again failed to achieve the goal they had set in advance of finishing on the podium this time, the association extended Bergeroo's contract to 2017 immediately after returning from Canada. FFF President Noël Le Graët justified this with the visible and measurable progress of the team as well as that it eventually qualified for the Olympic Games.

Awards

Despite the comparatively early departure of her wiveship, Amandine Henry was awarded the Silver Ball by FIFA as the second best field player behind the American world champion Carli Lloyd after the tournament . The Bleues also received the FIFA Fair Play Award for the fairest team.

In addition to Henry, the official FIFA final report named three other French women, Wendie Renard, Eugénie Le Sommer and Élodie Thomis, for the 23-strong all-star team at this tournament.

Supporting documents and comments

1. ↑ on the regulations for Olympic qualification cf. the article “Six European teams for three tickets” from June 20, 2015 at footofeminin.fr
2. ↑ ^{a b} Although Austria overall had the worse goal difference compared to Finland, based on the results in direct clashes (4: 3 hits) it was placed before that.
3. ^ Quote from kicker.de from March 9, 2015
4. ↑ see the conclusion of the Algarve Cup "The Bleues have tried something" from March 17th, 2015 at footofeminin.fr
5. ↑ see the French B contingent of March 3, 2015 at footofeminin.fr
6. ↑ see the reactions of the players on February 9, 2015 after the USA game at footofeminin.fr
7. ↑ Reactions from coach Bergeroo to the articles of February 11 and March 10, 2015 , both at footofeminin.fr
8. ↑ Article “La victoire, sinon rien”, France Football of June 3, 2015, pp. 48/49
9. ↑ after the article " Friendly game against the Québec selection this Wednesday " from June 3, 2015 at footofeminin.fr
10. ↑ according to the article “ The list of 23 will be announced on April 23 ” of April 9, 2015 at footofeminin.fr
11. ↑ FIFA Match Report France vs. England
12. ↑ FIFA Match Report France vs. Colombia
13. ↑ FIFA Match Report France vs. Mexico ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ according to the report from June 17, 2015 at kicker.de
15. ↑ FIFA Match Report France vs. South Korea
16. ↑ see the review of the game at footofeminin.fr
17. ↑ Quote from the article " Envy Elf meets strong French women - Brazil out " from June 22, 2015 at kicker.de
18. ↑ News from June 23, 2015 at lequipe.fr
19. ↑ FIFA Match Report France vs. Germany ( Memento of the original from June 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
20. ↑ For example, the print edition of the Schleswig-Holstein-Zeitung of June 23, 2015, p. 21, overwrites a preview article.
21. ↑ Match report from June 27, 2015 at zeit.de
22. ↑ for example the headline of the match analysis from June 27, 2015 at footofeminin.fr
23. ↑ see the official announcement on the contract extension from July 1, 2015 at fff.fr
24. ↑ All 2015 awards on the FIFA website
25. ↑ The report is available for download on the FIFA website ; the All-Star-Team can be found on p. 138.