The national coach presented his Bleuettes opponents and goals at the U17 Women’s World Cup in India, which they start on Wednesday, October 12 against Canada.

Hours before entering the 7th FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India, against Canada on Wednesday 12 October in Goa (1:30 French time), Cécile Locatelli was calm and measured. With serious preparations and most of his group accomplished after securing third place at Euro U17 last May, the national coach detailed what awaits them in the group stage against Canada, Tanzania and Japan. Before projecting himself on the aspirations of his choice.

PREPARATION
“Quick start”

“Since the beginning of our meeting on October 1 in CNF Clairefontaine, we worked on the physicality, on a large number of links between attack and defense and we were also able to improve the set-piece phase. We then go into a little more detail, getting the automation ready for the competition kick-off. Arriving in India on October 7th to start on October 12th, we had very little time to acclimatize to the high humidity. We also started at Clairefontaine to get up and go to bed early to compensate for the 3:30am time difference, which isn’t huge but should be taken into account. On the spot, we made the opposition between us, the group is now a bit physically ready and can’t wait to get started. »

CANADA
“This is going to be a real fight”

“Like Tanzania, our second opponent in the pool, Canada is an athletic team, with a North American game. We know the commitment these young players can give on the pitch, in particular the quality of the offensive pace we have to pay attention to. They often continue with long balls up front, it’s up to us to be careful in setting the depth and duels to be won. After all, it would be a real fight. »

TANZANIA
“Another very committed football”

“We couldn’t get a lot of pictures of this team but we still know that it has value for getting rid of Cameroon, the benchmark among African countries and which is developing a bit at the women’s level. This is, like Canada, a very committed football, sometimes difficult to fight for. We hope to compete with other weapons and in other areas against it. »

French group in India (FFF photo).

JAPAN
“Coordinated and disciplined”

“We know him better because we faced him last August. We suffered in the first half but we competed better in the second half [pour une défaite 0-2]. We want to find him to see what we learn from this game. This is a team that is collectively very well prepared, with highly coordinated moves and a highly disciplined defensive draw, like many Asian teams. Difficult to maneuver, you have to be technically precise to tackle them. This will be the third game for which we haven’t been able to write a script, which could be very different depending on who needs to win or not to advance to the quarter-finals. The girls will remain eager to show Japan that they have understood and learned from previous encounters. They want to win, that’s for sure. »

OBJECTIVE
“Good underdog”

“I told them we have to be there on October 30, 2022, the day of the final. We really had the potential to get out of the group and after that, in a dry game, we had assets. We’re not favourites, but we can be good outsiders. We can count on the experience of those who played in Euro 2022. They will be more excited because they have some regrets about the semifinal, losing against Germany (1-0) in certain climatic conditions of humidity and heat. They almost failed and realized how high the competition like this was. They don’t want to miss their World Cup and I know I can count on them to give everything. In any case, we will boldly play our chances to go as far as possible. »

With his German teammates after the semifinals of Euro U17 2022 last May (SPORTSFILE / UEFA photo).

Selected list