Herve Renard’s side suffered their first defeat in the current UEFA Nations League campaign, losing by a 2-1 margin to England. The Lionesses managed to beat France in France for the first time since 1972 and made up for their defeat in the last game by the same margin.
France decided to rotate a bit of their lineup for this one with Amandine Henry coming in for Real Madrid’s Sandie Toletti. While Sarina Weigman stuck to the same outfielders, making just one forced change in goal. The game was another edition of a game of two halves.
England started very strongly and Alessia Russo, spearheading England’s attack, was at the heart of a lot of what England did in the final third. Her amazing displays while dropping off from the last line and linking play caused a lot of problems for Maelle Lakrar in particular. The Arsenal striker dragged her out of position on multiple occasion and created space in behind.
England’s dominance resulted in their opening goal being scored in the 21st minute thanks to a thundering strike by Georgia Stanway and it was later doubled by Russo in a great move which she started. France goalkeeper, Peyraud-Magnin, made some good saves to keep the scoreline at 2-0 at half-time.
France made two changes at half-time with Toletti coming in for Henry and Delphine Cascarino coming in for Sakina Karchaoui. Selma Bacha’s overall play improved, and she was much more influential on the pitch, taking shots and putting in crosses. France kept knocking on the door hoping to find a breakthrough.
Geyoro’s swift turn in the box helped earn a penalty for France with Kadidiatou Diani converted comfortably to half the deficit. However, some brilliant goalkeeping from Hannah Hampton denied France the equalizer, resulting in their first loss in the Euros qualifiers.
Toletti who featured for the final 45 minutes looked good when she came on and did her role well. She helped in circulation and brought a slight zap to their passing game, adding urgency in reaching the final third. It wasn’t a classic Toletti performance in either of these two games, but the French midfielder always provides a solid baseline performance.
