Striker Delphine Cascarino, injured in her right knee last May, was recalled to the Blues on Wednesday to play in the “Final Four” of the Nations League and try to win a first title before the Olympics this summer. The French team, which will face Germany on February 23 at the Groupama stadium in Lyon in the semi-final of the League of Nations, will nevertheless have to do without its captain Wendie Renard (155 caps), injured in a thigh in December and since in the recovery phase.
“We must not skip the steps” with Delphine Cascarino
The 33-year-old defender has not returned to collective training with Olympique Lyonnais, only indoor exercises. The absence of Wendie Renard should give way to a hinge composed of Griedge Mbock and Elisa de Almeida or Maëlle Lakrar. Hervé Renard also summoned Eve Perisset, the young Parisian Thiniba Samoura and Sakina Karchaoui.
In the direction of returns, the indestructible frame and winger with the legs of the late Delphine Cascarino (56 caps, 14 goals), victim last May of a rupture of the cruciate ligament of the right knee, was recalled by the coach Hervé Renard. His last match was in April against Canada. Absent during the World Cup this summer, she makes her return with the Blues, alongside her twin sister, defender Estelle Cascarino. The 27-year-old striker was able to return to the field with Lyon at the end of January, where she already made a decisive entry on Sunday against PSG (1-1).
“We must not skip the steps. We are in discussions with the Lyon staff but if you have seen the last 25 minutes of OL-PSG, there is no debate,” rejoiced Hervé Renard.
Competition on attack
At Lyon town hall to raise local enthusiasm before the semi-final, he called a list of 24 players, six players more than that of the Olympics. In addition to Delphine Cascarino, he called other players in form in recent weeks: the two Parisians Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sandy Baltimore, who have had a very good start to the year. They will be alongside Lyonnaises Kadidiatou Diani and Eugenie Le Sommer and Paris FC attackers Julie Dufour and Clara Mateo, but not Vicki Becho or Viviane Asseyi, although they are on the trip to Australia.
“Vicki will have the opportunity to go to U23. It’s not easy but it will allow her to have playing time. We shouldn’t take it in a negative way. Competition is coming back with Katoto and Cascarino. I also think to Vivianne and Naomie (Feller) who are not there,” explained Hervé Renard. As for the goalkeepers, there is “established competition” and Pauline Peyraud-Magnin is “on favorable waivers”, affirmed the coach, facing Constance Picaud.
Aiming for a title before the Olympics
France, which finished its group undefeated (5 wins, 1 draw), will have a good card to play against Germany, long a reference in Europe but in crisis for several months. In the event of qualification for the final, the Blues will travel to Spain or the Netherlands to try to get a first title a few months before the Olympic Games in Paris. If France, already qualified as host country, is present in the final, it is the victorious nation in the third place match which will obtain the second ticket. “The goal is to reach a first continental final and that’s the only one,” Hervé Renard said on Wednesday.
With the announcement of this list and this future gathering, the coach can refocus attention on his mission with the Bleues, while he was tipped to lead Ivory Coast during the CAN after the departure of Jean- Louis Gasset. “I experienced it in a calm way since I had already been contacted, so we must not reverse the roles. Then, I thought, I know the African continent by heart. I experienced an exceptional adventure there with this team in 2015”, explained Hervé Renard at the end of his contract after the Olympics, who “thinks he has not offended anyone”. “My first decision was to absolutely continue with the French women’s team which is my priority,” he maintained.