For a long time, the objective set for the French women’s team was to progress beyond the quarter-finals of a major tournament, but Laurent Bonadei had not announced any goal before the start of Euro 2025 and now dreams beyond their match against Germany.
Saturday evening in Basel, the French team will have to face its demons: the quarter -finals and their bane, in Germany.
During the last European championship, the Blues were eliminated in the semi-finals against the Germans. Since this failure in 2022, the French have undergone two other disappointments: in the quarter -final of the 2023 World Cup, then in the quarter -final of the 2024 Olympic Games.
In total, they were eliminated eight times at this stage of competition during major tournaments, which, in journalistic jargon, has become the “glass ceiling”.
When Herve Renard took office as a French coach, Jean -Michel Aulas – French football chief – said he was the man to help the Blues reach the semi -finals, but Laurent Bonadei has always said that he wanted to set up “a three -year project”. In other words, the duration of his contract as number one at the head of the Blue.
Before the tournament, there was no more discussion on the fixing of the targets. France, outside the top 10 in the FIFA ranking, has become “foreigners” and started their euro with the ambition of “going as far as possible”.
But with three victories in three matches in the death group after a series of 11 consecutive victories in all competitions, France dream again.
“This group has progressed a little faster than I imagined and it is good. It gave us a greater ambition for this euro”, “ Said Bonadei, who suggested at the start of the competition which, if it fails in Switzerland, the experience would be useful for the next World Cup.
Pierced rather than glass ceilings
The players themselves can no longer be satisfied with an outing at the group stadium.
“Yes, being eliminated from the quarterfinals would be a failureOn Thursday, “Sandie Toletti said a press conference. We are competitors and we have ambitions.
Besides her, Sakina Karchaoui reminded us: “We are a new group with a new training staff. Few players from the current team have played France against Germany, so we are a new generation with new ambitions. We must remain humble, but we must keep our determination to win.”
In front of the press, Laurent Bonadei refused to raise the question of the glass ceiling from the quarter -finals, rather preferring a more positive equivalent:
“I prefer to talk about the milestones we have reached. While the project, which has been underway since last October, has progressed, I think that this team has become forcibly.
“There were the friendly matches, the phase of the League of Nations, then this group, which was announced as the Death Group, but the team made another step forward. Tomorrow, I therefore have a lot of confidence to go through this stage.”
Although he insists that France is not favorites in this quarter-final against a slowed German team, beaten 4-1 by Sweden in their last group match, but with a story of eight European championships in their name, Bonadei sees another strong signal that his team should no longer be taken lightly:
“If the German coach said that he was planning to defense of five men, even if it would surprise me frankly, it means that he is afraid of conceding goals against a team that has scored on average three per match in the last ten months.
“And if the big football nations are starting to think like that, it means that we are really making progress and that we will be in a position at a given time to exceed the quarter -finals.”
The blue thinking beyond the neighborhoods?
Apostle of positivism, the coach the Blues believes in the ability of his players to “play the event” and “make sure that there is only one match”, and not just another quarter -final where the adventure could end.
Gridge Mbock, captain on this side but on the bench since the start of the competition, supports these comments: “We are calm because we also worked hard. We are on a sequence of victories that has given us a lot of confidence. We are sure of our strengths.
Bonadei does not intend to return to France on Saturday evening and is already considering a potential semi-final. While he generally announces his team the day before the match, the former assistant of Herve Renard changed his plans for this quarter -final, explaining:
“I plan in the second half, the end of the match, the scenarios … Our goal is to play three games in eight days. When I know who qualified for the semi-final between Switzerland and Spain, I will have a clearer idea of the way I will organize.”
Clear proof that the quarter -finals no longer really scare the Blues.
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(Tagstotranslate) Football