the imperious Blue against Estonia

And three. The French women’s football team continued their clear course in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup with a third victory in as many games against weak Estonia (11-0), Friday, October 23, in Créteil.

The Blues got even closer to Australia and New Zealand, the host countries for the next World Cup. Here they are first with two points more than Wales, allegedly the toughest opponent in Group I, hung in Slovenia (1-1).

Read also Football: on the road to the World Cup, the Blue win in pain in Slovenia

Confront the 105e team in the Fifa rankings, ranked between the Cook Islands and Lithuania, was not a very exciting challenge but the players of Corinne Deacon responded, multiplying the offensive combinations in front of a white wall with large cracks.

The central defense embodied by Elisa De Almeida and Aïssatou Tounkara, armband on the arm in the absence of Captain Wendie Renard, injured, but coming to support her teammates in the stands, even allowed themselves several forays into the opposing area (8e, 19e, 21e), as their defensive tasks were limited, if not nonexistent.

At the 27e minute, the more than 4,300 spectators of the Dominique-Duvauchelle stadium even warmly applauded the first ball touched (at the foot) by Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, the French goalkeeper who did not wear out her gloves much, if not for warm up in the freshness of eastern Paris.

Delphine Cascarino in success

In this one-sided meeting, some French players however had a card to play. Delphine Cascarino, leaving the big game (hard-hitting dribbles, lightning accelerations, well-felt passes) knew how to seize her chance.

The Olympique Lyonnais striker, replaced in the 63e, was distinguished by strikes (23e, 42e), a decisive center for Grace Geyoro on the opening scoring (5e) and a goal, his seventh in 33 caps, taking advantage of a center behind Kadidiatou Diani softly pushed back by an opponent (29th, 4-0).

The evening was therefore successful for the young OL executive, tenured for the first time since February, in the place usually occupied on the left by her teammate Amel Majri, seriously injured in a knee and present in the stands, with her crutches.

Eve Perisset, absent in September, did not come to Créteil for nothing either. Preferred to Marion Torrent, who had displayed shortcomings in Slovenia (3-2) last month, the Bordeaux side was also applied and efficient, with an assist for Marie-Antoinette Katoto (15e, 2-0) and a converted penalty (25e, 3-0).

Corinne Deacon was able to offer a first selection to the promising Reims Naomie Feller, 19, to benefit from the precious entry of Kenza Dali and the double of her evening captain, Tounkara (65e, 72e), which had so far never found the net in selection.

The Blue will now be able to rest with peace of mind, before the long trip that awaits them to Nour-Soultan, capital of Kazakhstan where they play their next qualifying match on Tuesday.

Read also: Les Bleues enter a new era without Amandine Henry and Eugénie Le Sommer

The World with AFP

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