On pitch 2 of the Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), the crowd, won over to the cause of the Bleues, completely ignored the result displayed on the two giant screens: France 0 – Belgium 5. After having launched the waves throughout this more than complicated match for captain Emma Ponthieu and her teammates, they gave the vanquished players an unreserved ovation. “Come on, the Bleues, your supporters are here!”, “He who doesn’t jump is not French”…
The party despite their team’s bitter defeat is the spirit of field hockey. The Bleues are not really in the mood for celebrations in the garden that will become, after the Olympics, the HQ of the French Hockey Federation (FFH). Because for these high-level athletes, the important thing is not just to participate. But very professional and grateful for this unwavering support, they begin a lap of honor as a thank you. In return, they are still cheered.
After losing 6-2 on Saturday against the reigning Olympic champions the Dutch, the Tricolores have once again conceded a barrage of goals from the Red Panthers, the Belgian women’s team, 4th in the world rankings, sixteen places ahead of them. A world, a galaxy even, still separates them from the best nations on the planet of lacrosse. For the first time in its history, the French women’s team has invited itself to the Olympic games, but the baptism is painful.
Among the boys, the scores are also, for the moment, without appeal, hoping for better days, starting this Tuesday morning against Spain which is within their reach. Fifty-two years after their last appearance at the Olympics, the Blues were crushed 8-2 on Saturday against Germany before suffering a new setback the next day against the Netherlands 4-0.
“What matters to us is commitment”
But then what does it feel like to take a beating at home? “We are 100% detached from the score. What matters to us is commitment, and here, we gave our all on the pitch. We could be embarrassed if we had only played half-heartedly, but here, we put our whole soul into it to have no regrets and prove that we belong,” reacted, after the match, the Bleues goalkeeper Mathilde Pétriaux. Even when she goes to get the ball in the net several times, she tells herself each time that “it’s the last goal”. “To remobilize, even when we are down 4 to 0,” she explains.
For Emma Ponthieu, the captain, the score is not the most important thing. “We are here to gain experience, in these Olympic Games we do not have results objectives but performance objectives,” she recalls.
For the French team’s key players, these penalties are not really a surprise. “We expected to have scores like these, we are not fooled, we are 20th in the world rankings,” insists Philippine Delemazure, a very promising 18-year-old player.
Coach Gaël Foulard prefers to be positive: “We are still learning. We have to accept this somewhat harsh score, we are not going to feel sorry for ourselves, we will do better next time…”
