The French Football Association made a nice deepfake together with a telecommunications company. Support for the Équipe tricolore was solicited with brilliant free kicks, powerful header hits and skillful flicks. You can see Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappé and Co., but their heads and upper bodies were only inserted digitally, because the magic works were actually accomplished by Sakina Karchaoui, Eugenie Le Sommer and other stars of the French women’s national team.
Les Bleus kept their skills behind the scenes in their World Cup opener against Jamaica. The French, although clearly favored, did not get more than a goalless draw and were already under a lot of pressure in Group F’s top game in Brisbane, Australia on Saturday. Coach Hervé Renard’s team showed much more against Brazil with the now 37-year-old six-time world footballer Marta: In the 17th minute, Kadidiatou Diani headed a cross from the half field to Le Sommer to nod off. 1:0
Just as France’s concrete was beginning to dry, a deflected shot from Kerolin (North Carolina Courage) landed happily on Brazilian midfielder midfielder Debinha in the 58th minute: 1-1. France then won thanks to their air superiority: defender Wendie Renard was allowed to walk unmarked to the second post seven minutes before the end and headed in a corner with a touchdown. Marta’s subsequent substitution was purely symbolic, as was Coach Renard’s clichéd overtime freak out, who seems to have picked up the bad habit from his previous stints as men’s team coach. He got yellow and can still be happy with that.
If his team wins against the Panamanians who have already been eliminated on Wednesday, they will win the group. They clearly lost their World Cup debut against Brazil’s Seleção 4-0 and also lost 1-0 to Jamaica on Saturday. There was no higher defeat because a clear hand penalty was withdrawn by the referee for no apparent reason after looking at the camera recordings. If the Jamaican team don’t concede a goal against Brazil either, they’re through and the title contenders are out.
On Saturday, the Swedes dismantled Italy 5-0 and thus made it clear that they had reached the round of 16. The Scandinavians slept through the initial phase and repeatedly got their not always sovereign goalkeeper Zecira Musovic from Chelsea into trouble. Three goals in six minutes, just before half-time, made the Calciatori buckle. Here, too, the header was the chosen means: the Swedes blocked the six-yard box with players at corners, Italy’s keeper Francesca Durante didn’t manage to muddle through, and so there was constant fire in the Italian penalty area when balls were hit just in front of goal.
Corners were also tried and tested measures in the new edition of the 2019 World Cup final between the USA and the Netherlands on Thursday in New Zealand’s capital Wellington. At three o’clock in the morning, those in the Central European time zone could watch the reigning world champions dominating the game against Oranje, but falling behind in the 17th minute through Jill Roord’s low shot from the edge of the area. Only in the 62nd minute did Lindsey Horan equalize for the US girls – of course with a header, of course after a corner.
Horan was hit in the foul in the knee, as crucial a negative as the head for the tournament so far. The players missing from the tournament through injury would form a tough team to beat. Statistically, women are more prone to knee injuries such as cruciate ligament tears than men in soccer. Germany left-back Felicitas Rauch sprained her right knee in training and missed Sunday’s game against Colombia. Defender Sara Doorsoun was injured in the game itself. A penalty and a corner kick also played important roles in the 2-1 victory for the Colombians. Although captain Alexandra Popp was able to equalize with a penalty kick in the 89th minute, Colombia scored the winner with a header from Manuela Vanegas after a corner kick in the 97th minute. In the almost endless game in front of 40,000 spectators in Sydney, with a quarter of an hour added time, the DFB selection was characterized by a haphazardly lame offensive and a catastrophic defensive performance. On Thursday she still has the place in the round of 16 in her own hands against South Korea.
There was resentment among the Nigerians. They were on the verge of striking the competition because of non-distributed bonuses. The Nigeria Football Federation owed their coach, the American Randy Waldrum, at least 14 months’ salary until shortly before the start of the tournament. At the NFF, the women’s team is probably not held in high esteem. Despite this, the Super Falcons beat the Australian co-hosts 3-2 on Thursday.
