France head coach Corinne Diacre has predicted a tough battle for her side when they come up against the Super Falcons of Nigeria in their last group game at the FIFA Women’s World Cup next week Monday, reports Completesports.com.
The hosts defeated Norway 2-1 in Nice on Wednesday to maintain their perfect start to the competition.
Valerie Gauvin gave France the lead early in the second half.
Amel Majri’s cross found Gauvin, who got in front of Chelsea’s Maria Thorisdottir to send the ball into the net.
Norway equalised eight minutes later when Wendie Renard put the ball into her own net.
A penalty by Eugenie Le Sommer, after Marion Torrent was fouled by Ingrid Syrstad Engen, earned France three points in the game.
France top Group A with six points from two games – three ahead of second-placed Norway and third-placed Nigeria – with one group game left against Nigeria on Monday.
”I am going to relax, think about it tomorrow, then we will reflect on things – what we can do, who may stay on the bench because we did have some injuries and let them recover,”Diacre told reporters after her side victory against the Norwegians.
”We are going to have to think about this long and hard.
”Norway gave us a hard time, Nigeria will probably do the same. For the time being, now we are just going to stay put and fight hard to win that match against Nigeria”.
The France versus Nigeria game will be played at the Roazhon Park, Rennes. Kick-off is 8pm Nigerian time.
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COMMENTS
This man is just planning to make things easier for the Super Falcons. He wants to perform experiment against us by shuffling his team “what we can do, who may stay on the bench because we did have some injuries and let them recover,”Diacre told reporters after her side victory against the Norwegians.
Super Falcons should just go into that game with the NIAJA mindset of #WeDieThere. Park the bus well if needed, kill them off with your counter attack speed and power when we recover the ball and bye bye to France with the Victory in our pocket. I believe something great can come out of that match
I quite agree with you. Our approach against france should be a ‘die hard’ approach. The result is the ultimate, the style does not matter too much at such moments. The end will only justify the means. We need to be VERY organized defensively and win all the 50s in the middle….absorb the french and hit them with power and pasce on the break. We dont need weak, heavy or slow players for this game
You read the coach’s lips well. This should be advantage Nigeria! At least, 1 point please and we’re good. Who knows, we may even overtake Norway on the long.
The coach na woman no bi man ooo!
I know some people will call the french coach weak just because of this statement…! He is giving excuses and isnt showing confidence in himself. That’s what they’ll say….they know themselves.
France coach is a woman not a man pls
Twas my preference that France beats Norway,bcoz naturally dey wud want to rest players against us(being their last group match).
Now they have more reasons to rest players becos they have some injuries and the fatigue Norway match brot to them. I wonder if they were not expecting dat degree of tough test from Norway.
The coach also said:
”Norway gave us a hard time, Nigeria will probably do the same. For the time being, now we are just going to stay put and fight hard to win that match against Nigeria”.
Ofcourse,she’ll urge her team to fight hard, but truth is she has to rest players bcoz there is a knockout stage ahead. And chances are dat d Nigerian team will be hungrier than dem.
I expect Mr Dennerby to take advantage of these.
Go Falcons
That is how oyinbo person speaks. Give them the chance or capitulate and they will nail you heavily. Thailand can testify to this. Even if they rest players, they are playing in front of their vociferous crowd and they will do everything to win, just as they did against Norway.
We should go there and do our own job. NO reckless play (unnecessary penalties have been conceded in this competition) and the players should be told that there is camera everywhere and questionable plays will be promptly reviewed (Oparanozie’s act during Korea’s own goal is an example). So, adjustment is needed in the way they tackle.
If they can pack the bus, no wahala. But they should be ready to hit hard on the counter. I know they can run any team ragged. They should do it against France and play a purposeful attack minded game. Who knows, they can get another own goal from that kind of play.
I’m afraid France might beat us. The scoreline against Korea does not tell the true story. They lived in our eighteen almost the entire 2nd half but couldn’t finish their chances. France is a deadly team and would punish us if we give them the space to play in our box. Our girls are up to the task. Hopefully they’d avoid early mistakes.
Another part of the TRUE STORY the scoreline didn’t show is that, d Koreans were susceptible to our counters-we had great chances to score more goals.
Infact @Ayphillidegreat gives a summary of the tactics employed.
We played a compact game and then used d counter.
Infact truth be told,d Koreans had less joy in our box than d Norwegians.That shows an improvement,nor be so?
I had always known d coach is world class,so he wud deliver tactically,dats why I said d greatest failing in d first game was their lack of confidence.Any footballer will tell you confidence, can be everything.
So,if d team improved second game,then why won’t we expect more. I know once again d coach will employ compact futbal wit less space for France&a more clinical edge in front of goal. Mr Dennerby, knows France well, dey gave him a baptism of fire wen he took up d Falcons job.
We don’t even need to remind these ladies to fight,it’s clear they know what’s at stake.
Watch out for Asisat nwamaka Oshoala. hehe.
Go Falcons
I really don’t see us winning this game, but I think if we adopt the same defensive approach we had against Korea, and try to play counter attacking football, we might get a draw which could be good enough to qualify. The fact that France will rest some of their top players gives us a chance to get a draw from this game. In fact all we need is a draw and we should at least qualify as one of the best third place teams.
The Falcons are now playing defensive allowing the opponent to have the ball and use our pace and power on the counter when we have the ball. When you know the weakness of your team you adopt a tactic that plays to their strengths. Kudos to the coach for that. That’s why I will always prefer a foreign coach. He used the wingbacks on the counter Ngozi Ebere and Chidinma Okeke. Asisat on the whenever they have the ball. While Ordega and Oparanozie makes themselves nuisance to opposing defenders.
It worked to perfection against Korea with the young goalkeeper very efficiently calm. We can get a draw with the never say die Nigerian spirit. VAMOS ARIBA SuperFalcons!!!!
It will take a miracle for us to get any point out of this game.
I have tried to constrain myself from expressing thus harsh but obvious truth in order to avoid abuses from those who love Nigeria more than us (as they seem to claim).
I saw the way France played against Korea. The 4 goals scored was not the most impressive part of their game; the ease with which they scored was the scary thing.
They had a tough game against Norway because they were over confident, but I doubt they will make that mistake twice.
It is not a big deal if we fail to secure a point from the France game. I am satisfied with the patriotic zeal with which the girls played their last two games. If we can retain this coach for another four years, we will surprise the world.
Despite the opinion stated above, I do sincerely hope that we won’t have to wait for another four years to pull that surprise. Who knows? France may fall like a pack of cards before us like Maradona’s Argentina did before Cameroun at the Italia ’90 world cup.
Cheers everyone.
Bomboy. France weren’t overconfident against Norway. Norway is a powerhouse in female football. They’ve won this tournament already, so it was a 50-50 game and they were lucky to get that penalty. One thing going for France in this tournament is home advantage. Against teams like the USA or Germany they can reach a brick wall. Notwithstanding, they’re a very solid talented team and they’re all in to win the cup. That’s why I don’t see is winning this game, but I think if we play with all our hearts we might get a draw that could be sufficient enough to reach the next round. I agree with you that if we can try to keep this coach irrespective of what happen at this Mundial for another four years SuperFalcons will shock the world in 2023.
That is a good observation, Ayphillydegreat.
Sincerely I was wondering how France will underrate the nmba 12th ranked team in the world.
The best striker in d world now, Balon d’or winner,is a Norwegian,her team,Lyon,just won d Champions League. She has issues with their FA,so isn’t at d WCup.
So this is a current powerhouse in female futbal lyk Ayphillidegreat says.
Well, if France conspired to underrate such a team, I don’t mind if dey do same against d Falcons o.
Cheers
that is what oyibo do when they know your secret. France beat us 8-0 in a friendly last year. The result will be the same. I predict france 3, Nigeria 1
It’s diplomacy, tact, and respect for the opponent. You will never hear Klopp or Pep come out and say – WE ARE GOING TO KILL THOSE FOOLS TOMORROW. WE WILL BURY THEM WITH GOALS!
Instead, they will say something similar to what this French coach said. No matter how superior you are to your opponent, boasting makes you look silly and unprofessional, and sets you up for even more humiliation in the event that the unexpected happens. So Rohr haters, hear you are. You can now see that it is not only Rohr that uses this tactic.
For us to qualify from that group as one of the best loosers we need to totally reduce theargin of victory to only one nil but I fear we may lose to France by more than one goal. If that’s the case we may notake it out of the group, as we are presently not favoured with other groups’ results.
The first match was where the damage was done as our girls should have endured they didn’t concede those goals, knowing full well that France will probably nickbthe full points against us and to now qualify as one of the best loosers would come down to goals scored and concerned. This is where we are at a disadvantage to others.
Our girls should defend for dear lives, soak the pressure and then capitalise on shoddy defensive lapses by the French by sollid counter-attacking initiatives. We should not concede more than one goal less we should kiss the tournament a bye.
Teams have not been conceeding so much goals, barring the Brazil vs Thailand game. That’s another reason why our three nil lose to Normal may be so damaging. We had no reasons to conceed those goals.
All the same I am optimistic that results will go our way and we will eventually qualify as one of the best loosers. It’s long overdue we qualified out of the group since 1999,a whopping 20years.All hands will be on deck come Monday to see how watertight our defensive line can be as our girls have shown they may be unreliable onany occasion at the world level.
I think it’s USA vs Thailand.
All said… France may meet USA in Q/finals if they beat or draw Nigeria. So maybe France would field a weak side against Nigeria.
Corrections
Margin of victory…we may not make it out of the group…
…as our girls should have ensured…would now come down to goals scored and conceeded.
They may be unreliable on many occasions at this level.