Women’s World Cup: Les Bleues formidables? The eyes have it

En garde! The French aren’t too shabby. The Matildas face their most dangerous opponent in their World Cup quarter-final in Brisbane.

Sam Kerr continues her balancing act over injuries and her fitness to play. Picture: Adam Head

En garde! The French aren’t too shabby.

The Matildas face their most dangerous opponent in their World Cup quarter-final in Brisbane. They’re on red alert. High alert. When Sam Kerr had her eyes up at training on Wednesday, seemingly hypnotising the ball so it would hover just past her nose forever, she meant business. Because here’s a heads up — France is a proud, powerhouse team representing a proud, powerhouse footballing nation that won’t take kindly to losing to a minnow of the global game like us. You have to understand how Europeans think of Australia having a decent soccer team. In French, it amounts to this. Pote, etes-vou serieux? Mate, are you serious?

Les Bleues are ranked fifth in the world. The Matildas are 10th. The French were furious to be nudged 1-0 by Australia in the practice match a week before the Cup, storming away all surly as if someone had called croissants overrated. Their message was over their dead bodies, in the sporting sense, would they lose to the Matildas again.

Eyes, up, heads up. France flogged Morocco 4-0 to get here. If Kerr was looking up at a crystal ball, eyes on the prize, here’s what she saw. A force to be reckoned with. The French are aggressive, grim-faced, combative, skilful, playing with a chip on their shoulder and playing angry. In the manner of a Parisian waiter who sounds polite but cannot help sticking his nose in the air when he speaks, coach Herve Renard began the tournament by telling the Matildas: “All the best – except against us.”

Renard understands what the Australians face on Saturday night. Pressure. World Cups amplify all emotions for the home nation. Wins are wonderful. We’ve seen and felt the glow. Elimination, however, will be devastating. Renard knows it because the French have been here. They thought they’d win their home World Cup four years ago. A quarter-final defeat to the US in front of 45,000 fans in Paris was … quelle tragedie.

“We know exactly what we’re in for,” Renard says. ”The host country, we know that that can be a good or bad thing. This is what the French team went through in 2019. It can be hugely disappointing, as it was for France when they were knocked out. We’re hoping to put Australia through exactly what France went through when they were the host country in 2019.”

Renard brushes off the warm-up loss to the Matildas like the waiter is back and he doesn’t care if the French onion soup is cold. He blames that defeat on the French being fried by jet lag and says: “Your mindset is completely different for the quarterfinals. We’ve come with great ambition and if you’ve come with great ambition, you need to be capable of beating the best teams. There’s nothing to fear here but we will respect Australia because Australia has a lot of qualities.”

Les Bleues don’t get the respect of the French men’s team in their homeland. Les Bleus have won the World Cup twice, most recently in 2018, and only the farce of a penalty shootout denied them last year. The women have reached one semi-final. Twelve years ago. They’ve been chronic underachievers.

En garde! In readiness for an attack. The quarterfinalists are locked in. No World Cup on TV for a couple of nights. I’m not sure what we’re meant to do until Friday? Of the final eight, only Japan has won the tournament. Only Sweden, Netherlands and Japan have reached the final. The Matildas will achieve their best-ever result if they make the semis. But the crystal ball hovering above Kerr says the French will play like Edith Piaf sang. With gusto and defiance.

“France are obviously a world-class team … but I think we can expose them.” said the Matildas’ Cortnee Vine.