For the first of coach Hervé Renard, the players of the French team welcomed Colombia this Friday evening, on the lawn of the Gabriel Montpied stadium, in Clermont Ferrand, in a friendly preparation match for the next World Cup.
With a new strong man at its head, the Bleues wanted to regain automatism and confidence with the return of several executives in selection, who had boycotted the selection because of a disagreement with Corinne Deacon.
Twenty-sixth nation in the FIFA rankings, the Colombian selection remained undefeated since September 2022 with a series of 9 friendly matches without defeat, including seven victories, against South American and African nations.
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The complete calendar of the Blues
In the first period, despite a more than convincing start from Les Bleues, marked by a lot of activity from Selma Bacha on the left side and a few dangerous strikes at the feet of Eugénie Le Sommer (20th) and Amel Majri (32nd), it was well Colombia who managed to open the scoring in the wake of Daniela Arias on an eccentric free kick taken by Catalina Usme (36th, 0-1).
A bad surprise which forced Hervé Renard to make three changes at the break with the entry into play of Clara Matéo, Delphine Cascarino and Grace Geyoro.
In the second act, everything accelerated on both sides in just 10 minutes.
First with Colombia who doubled the lead with a superb free kick from Catalina Usme (50th, 0-2).
In the next minute, Delphine Cascarino managed to reduce the score with a low shot (51st, 1-2).
The Colombians react with Mayra Ramirez who found the crossbar of Pauline Peyraud Magnin (52nd).
Then, France regained their colors thanks to a quick double from Eugénie Le Sommer (56th, 58th) which allowed Les Bleues to take the advantage (3-2).
Delphine Cascarino then came to put the goal of the break to take shelter (73rd, 4-2).
Launched in depth by Clara Matéo, Grace Geyoro took all her time to conclude perfectly and definitively sink Colombia (90th + 1, 5-2).
With this result, France is breathing new life, a few months away from crucial deadlines in its transition under the leadership of Herve Renard.
The French players will fly to Australia and New Zealand next summer, for a World Cup which will take place from July 20 to August 20, 2023. As a reminder, group F of Les Bleues is made up of Jamaica, Brazil and Panama.
The next friendly match for the French will be against Canada on April 11.
