Definitely, Brazil inspires it. Last June 23 at the Océane stadium in Le Havre, Valérie Gauvin had shown the Blue team the path to qualification for the quarterfinals of the World Cup by opening the scoring against the Seleção, beaten 2-1 in overtime. This Saturday evening in Valenciennes, the Montpellier striker gave them a 1-0 victory against the Brazilians and the first French Tournament by taking the lead from a center of Amel Majri before the hour.
The 23-year-old scored her 14th goal in the blue jersey, all under the Corinne Deacon era. The distance duel for the center forward continues with Parisian Marie-Antoinette Katoto, credited with a good performance against Canada (1-0) three days earlier.
Valérie Gauvin's victorious goal against Brazil! #TournoiDeFrance #FRABRE pic.twitter.com/eDTNCCIQnK
- FooT FeM VidZ (@FootFemVidz) March 7, 2020Brazil is a team that does you pretty well ...
VALÉRIE GAUVIN. Yes, it works for me. I'm glad I brought the group with this new goal against Brazil. I gave the maximum and I am also happy for the team that we won the Tournament.
After being a replacement against Canada, did this tenure do you any good?
Yes of course. We all have to respond when she (Editor's note: the coach Corinne Deacon) calls on us, whether we are a replacement or a holder. I am very happy to have been able to score points. I am asked to be efficient, I managed to be efficient this evening (Saturday) . The defensive aspect was important and I also try to progress on this aspect match after match.
What are the team's areas of progress?
On the aggressiveness at the start of the match. It was physical. We knew that there would be many duels against the teams that we play in this Tournament and that we had to respond. There were times when we were a little too nice. But we were able to raise our heads, continue to lay our game and go get them to put them in difficulty.
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How do you feel about the competition with Marie-Antoinette Katoto for the center forward position?
This is a good thing. It allows us to raise our level of play. There is competition, that's normal. I work to progress all the time and meet expectations.
Will the last meeting Tuesday against the Netherlands, vice-world champions, be a big test even if you have already won the Tournament?
Yes it will. We aim to win three victories in this tournament. It is not because we already have the trophy that we will relax. It will also be an opportunity to refine what did not necessarily work well over the first two games.
How has the repositioning in the middle of Amel Majri, which makes you the decisive center, brought you?
The automatisms are there because we have known each other for a while and we manage to find each other well. We see it on the goal which comes from a beautiful movement. It's good to score on great actions like this. But even when she was behind, Amel brought it offensively. It has an extraordinary quality of dribbling and also a quality of center.