The captain of the France team, Wendie Renard, announced on Friday that she had decided to withdraw from the selection because of the “current system far from the requirements required by the highest level”.
This is quite an unexpected decision. The captain of the France team, Wendie Renard, announced on Friday February 24 that she wanted “take a step back” compared to the Blue, five months before the next World Cup disputed in Australia and New Zealand (July 20-August 20). “I can no longer endorse the current system, far from the requirements required by the highest level. It’s a sad but necessary day to preserve my sanity”the 32-year-old wrote on social media, adding that she would not be going to the World Cup “in these conditions“.
From the top of her 142 selections, the defender of Olympique Lyonnais is nevertheless a member of Corinne Deacon’s team. For franceinfo: sport, the ex-international tricolor Marinette Pichon (121 caps) evokes the consequences of this decision.
franceinfo:sport: Wendie Renard has decided to withdraw from the France team, three days after her last selection. Does that surprise you?
Marinette Pichon: It’s a surprise but it goes with his personality. You have to have courage to free the floor, forget your personal interest and want to embody this change, especially since she knows that her release will be widely commented on and that others may criticize her. By doing this, Wendie simply wants to help the development of women’s football. Thanks to her status as captain, she can make her word heard, even if it means not making a World Cup. His message is measured, with a lot of sincerity, sadness and heartbreak. It’s a decision that seems to have been well thought out.
“Wendie chose the right timing. She is still in competition, she plays with her club and her physical condition will not be altered between now and the World Cup. At any time she is able to return to the selection if the Federation moves. “
Marinette Pichon, former French internationalat franceinfo: sport
In my opinion, she was waiting to see the evolution of the means made available by the Federation in terms of supervision, consideration and promotion of women’s football. I hope the FFF will react to give the players what they expect. This requires the professionalization of the French championship so that the clubs have the necessary funds to attract quality recruits. But above all by improving the visibility of D1 Arkema by playing matches in appropriate stadiums and guaranteeing better broadcasting. Because apart from Les Bleues, the images are catastrophic… Sometimes there are downright raindrops on the camera.
Five months before the World Cup, the Blues do not really have a standard team. Would the potential absence of Wendie Renard be disastrous for the France team?
I really hope that she will participate in the World Cup because it is an important element in group life and through her leadership on the pitch. In addition, its size is also an offensive weapon on set pieces. When we look at recent matches, especially the last one against Norway (0-0) where we experienced more adversity on the athletic and tactical levels, we realize that we do not always manage to find the spaces and play in rapid transition. We can still ramp up but five months before the World Cup, that raises questions.
We do not see which players could bring new blood and energize the group. In the middle, there are certainties with Charlotte Bilbault and even Kenza Dali, who was very hard-hitting against Uruguay (5-1). But it’s true that we have a lot of concerns about the central hinge. If you take out Wendie Renard, who is the pillar of the whole team, it’s a hell of a job behind. The Blues lack benchmarks. Friendly matches are made for tests and changes but we will have to freeze an eleven-type to develop automatisms together.
Without Wendie Renard, who do you think could inherit the captain’s armband?
The best placed today would be Charlotte Bilbault, who has already worn it several times. But in reality, I don’t even want to know who will have the armband, I want to know how the federation will react to put out the fire. I hope that this decision by Wendie will generate a state of emergency at the FFF. Five months before the World Cup, when we have a federation like ours, we cannot leave it like that.
