Kieran Pender's match report
Renard header settles heavyweight clash
Captain Wendy Renard’s header seven minutes from time earned France a dramatic 2-1 win over Brazil at Brisbane’s Lang Park on Saturday as they picked up their first win in Group F of the Women’s World Cup.
Renard met Selma Bacha’s corner with a firm downward header that bounced back up off the turf and beyond goalkeeper Letícia to give the French all three points after opening their campaign with a 0-0 draw against Jamaica last Sunday.
Eugenie Le Sommer had put Les Bleues in front in the 17th minute when she steered a close-range header home. Debinha levelled the scores 13 minutes into the second half, coolly slotting in after Kerolin’s shot had been deflected into her path. Reuters
The focus in Group F shifts from Brisbane to Perth, where Jamaica look to build on their surprising draw with France by taking on Panama. Sarah Rendell has the details of that one; thanks for reading this MBM.
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France jump for joy as one … except for their manager Hervé Renard, who has been booked for that minor touchline brouhaha, and looks suitably sheepish as a result. Brazil were much improved in the second half, but France were deserving winners over the piece. They go into their final game against Panama strong favourites to win Group F now.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Brazil | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Jamaica | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Panama | 1 | -4 | 0 |
FULL TIME: France 2-1 Brazil
France beat Brazil at the World Cup again, thanks to Wendie Renard’s late header. Les Bleues are now in control of Group F.
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90 min +9: The free kick leads to a game of bagatelle in the box. The ball doesn’t drop for Monica, and Toletti hacks clear just in time. For a second, it looked like Brazil were going to bundle in the most dramatic of equalisers, but …
90 min +8: Hervé Renard betrays some nerves by making a scene on the touchline. He wants this game over. He’s not getting his wish.
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90 min +7: Bacha arrives late on Kerolin, who was making ground down the right. A free kick and a last chance for Brazil, who load the French box.
90 min +6: Becho and Perisset combine nicely down the right, France once again winning a throw deep in Brazilian territory. The clock really is on their side now.
90 min +5: Monica gets busy down the right and briefly threatens to break clear, but eventually loses possession and clanks over-eagerly into Bacha. Free kick and exactly what France were after.
90 min +3: Bacha latches onto a ball bouncing loose 30 yards out. She sends a first-time looper wide left. That would have been spectacular had it been on target; Leticia was well off her line.
90 min +2: Becho launches another sortie down the right … but there’s nobody in the middle so she purchases a throw-in instead, and the clock ticks on. That’s smart play from the sub, who has been excellent since coming on.
90 min: There will be seven additional minutes.
89 min: Brazil can’t get hold of the ball at the moment. France doing what they need to do to run down the clock.
88 min: Le Garrec’s first act is an attempt score from 30 yards. Ambitious and easy for Leticia in the Brazilian goal.
87 min: Dali has been excellent this evening … but her run-out ends sourly as she limps off clutching her thigh. Le Garrec comes on in her place.
86 min: Ahead of a corner, Brazil make a triple change. On come Ana Vitoria, Monica and Marta in place of Ary Borges, Debinha and Antonia. Brazil then take the corner, and it’s a complete non-event.
84 min: That was a great delivery from Bacha, and a trademark header by Renard … but Brazil’s marking was non-existent. You simply can’t leave Renard alone like that.
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GOAL! France 2-1 Brazil (Renard 83)
The corner’s hit long by Bacha. Renard, an injury doubt for this game, is found unmarked at the back post, six yards out. She rushes in to meet it, and steers a downwards header across Leticia and into the right-hand side of the net. France are set to beat Brazil yet again!
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82 min: Becho has certainly turned up for work since coming on, and her persistence wins a corner for France down the right. Bacha to take.
80 min: Nothing comes of the Brazil corner. Before it was taken, Bia Zaneratto – who put the finishing touch to that team goal against Panama - replaced Adriana.
79 min: More end-to-end shenanigans as first Diani powers a shot from the edge of the box that’s smothered by Leticia, then Luana curls towards the top right only for Renard to deflect out for a corner.
77 min: Brilliant play by Karchaoui, who strips Ary Borges of possession and barrels down the middle of the park. She thinks about shooting from the edge of the D – she’s earned the right – but tries to slip Becho free instead. The pass is all wrong and dribbles through to Leticia. A shame, because that was a thrilling run up until then.
75 min: Bacha nearly surprises Leticia by dropping a shoulder down the right and lashing towards the bottom-right corner. She ruffles the side netting. Leticia just about had her near post covered there, but it would have been a close-run thing had Bacha’s shot been on target.
74 min: Kerolin meets the flatly delivered free kick at the near post. She attempts to flick past Peyraud-Magnin but can’t get the effort on target. Both teams fancy their chances of finding a winner.
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73 min: Toletti – who has already been booked – brings down Adriana on the left flank. Just a free kick but the French midfielder will have to watch herself from here on in. Debinha to take.
72 min: Lauren is good to continue. “What an entertaining game!” chirps Justin Kavanagh. There’s more end-to-end play than Wimbledon, more drama than the Edinburgh Fringe. At least that’s what it sounds like on Telemundo here in the US.”
71 min: A break as Lauren goes down having taken a whack upside the head. On come the physios to do their thing.
69 min: Karchaoui is booked for a blatant tug on Andressa. She gesticulates in the Gallic style.
68 min: Nothing comes of the corner … but then the match assumes basketball rhythms, as first Debinha breaks upfield only to be surrounded and dispossessed, then Becho bursts down the left but fails to find Diani with her low cross. It’s all happening! “That was such a great finish by Debinha, made all the more impressive by that exquisite touch with the outside of her boot before the finish,” writes Adam K. “It all happened so quickly I hadn’t even had time to finish feeling aggrieved at the mixup you referenced between Debinha and Adriana. Brazil on the front foot now although France are still dangerous! It’s opening up nicely.”
66 min: France put together their best move of the second half. Karchaoui drills a diagonal pass in from the left to Becho, who lays off down the inside-left channel for Geyoro. She aims for the top right. Leticia parries out for a corner.
65 min: France respond to events by making their first change. Le Sommer makes way for Becho.
63 min: Brazil are suddenly first to everything. That hadn’t been the case for the majority of the match. The energy-giving properties of an equaliser.
61 min: Geyse makes way for Andressa. Having started the attack that led to the equaliser with that fine burst down the right flank, she looks none too happy about being withdrawn.
60 min: There was a slight deflection on the pass to Debinha, but take nothing away from Brazil, who suddenly turned up the heat and pulled the French defence this way and that.
GOAL! France 1-1 Brazil (Debinha 58)
Geyse nips down the right and crosses from the byline. Debinha and Adriana get in each other’s way at the far post. No matter! Brazil recycle possession on the left flank. Kerolin shovels a pass down the inside-left channel to release Debinha into the box. Debinha takes a touch before firing a shot across Peyraud-Magnin and into the right-hand side of the net!
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57 min: Antonia skittles Le Sommer out on the left flank. France line up on the edge of the Brazilian box. Bacha swings the free kick into a crowded mixer. Leticia punches confidently clear.
55 min: Dali slips Diani into space down the right. A dangerous burst, but Lauren does extremely well to get across and put a stop to France’s gallop with a perfectly timed sliding tackle.
54 min: Brazil are seeing more of the ball in this second half, though they’re doing very little of note with it in the final third. “After a disappointing first match, the French seem much improved,” opines Kári Tulinius. “Unlike most other teams ravaged by injuries at this World Cup, they aren’t conspicuously light in any area, though losing Katoto is a blow, of course.”
52 min: Antonia shows up the other end now, looping a right-wing cross towards the far stick. Peyraud-Magnin rises calmly to claim.
51 min: Bacha drives down the left and nearly gets past Antonia. The Brazil full back blocks out for a corner. France work the set piece back to Geyoro, who is crowded out on the edge of the D.
49 min: Diani dribbles in from the right. For a second the run threatens to turn into a shooting chance on the edge of the box, but Diani declines and cuts back for Toletti … who has no such concerns. She blooters an extremely ambitious effort miles over the bar from the best part of 30 yards.
48 min: Now it’s Antonia’s turn to run the ball out of play for a throw. A slightly scrappy and shapeless start to the second half.
46 min: Geyse forces Renard into making a misplaced pass, but then takes an absurdly heavy touch as she prepares to scoot into acres of space down the right. Goal kick.
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Brazil get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time entertainment. Faye Carruthers, Suzanne Wrack, Jonathan Liew and Marva Kreel review a day of mixed emotions for the Lionesses.
HALF TIME: France 1-0 Brazil
A deserved half-time lead for Les Bleues.
45 min +2: Bacha strides down the left and fires a daisy-cutter in the vague direction of the goal. Diani attempts to steer the effort on target, but can’t quite get the angle right. Brazil clear.
45 min: There will be three additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Luana competes for a 50-50 ball with Toletti but arrives very late. Toletti felt that. As she receives treatment, Luana is booked. Toletti is fine to continue.
43 min: Antonia has a speculative dig from the best part of 30 yards. It’s a shot on target, if nothing else. Easy for Peyraud-Magnin.
42 min: Karchaoui cuts in from the left and is cynically checked by Luana. She demands a yellow card for the Brazilian, but it’s just a free kick. That’s swung into the box and breaks to Dali, who sends a bouncing bomb through a crowded box. Leticia plucks from the sky.
40 min: Tamires attempts to gee Brazil up, crossing invitingly from the left. Geyse wins a header in the box, but it flies harmlessly wide right, and she’s been shoving Renard anyway, so the whistle blows accordingly. Peyraud-Magnin has yet to be pressed into serious action.
39 min: It’s all gone a bit scrappy. Brazil’s fans are getting a little irritated as a result. Their team haven’t put France under much pressure.
37 min: Toletti’s cross comes into the Brazil box from the left. Renard competes with Geyse at the far post but falls over. She doesn’t claim a penalty. In fact she seems more irritated by the overhit cross than anything else.
35 min: Dali and Le Sommer are causing quite a lot of bother down the right wing. France have enjoyed 45 percent of possession to Brazil’s 33.
33 min: Brazil win a corner down the right, then over-elaborate a training-ground routine and waste it. Full marks for ambition.
32 min: A huge chance for France! Karchaoui strides down the middle and slips Geyoro free. Geyoro is one on one with Leticia … but can’t drill the ball past the keeper, who blocks bravely. What a miss, what a save – both things can be true at once, right? – but then the flag goes up correctly for offside, so it’s all academic anyway.
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30 min: Brazil load the box. Debinha wedges the free kick straight into Peyraud-Magnin’s arms. Easy for the keeper. What a waste.
29 min: Adriana drives down the inside-left channel and is cynically clipped by Toletti before she can reach the box. A second booking for France, and a free kick just to the left of the D.
28 min: Antonia barges Le Sommer to the ground in the no-nonsense style. Le Sommer’s not particularly happy about it, but the free kick will do. Bacha fires it in low and flat from the left. Lakrar can’t win a header and Brazil clear. Renard, in a little space at the back stick, berates her team-mate for not delivering a higher free kick.
26 min: Geyoro slips a pass down the inside left for Diani, who earns a corner off Antonia. Dali takes. Leticia punches confidently under pressure from – who else? – Renard. France return the ball into the mixer only for it to dribble out for a goal kick. A good open game, this.
24 min: Now Debinha grooves infield from the left but can’t quite get a shot away. The ball dribbles through to Peyraud-Magnin. This is a good response to falling behind by Brazil, and especially Debinha.
23 min: Debinha jinks in gracefully from the right and cuts back for Adriana, in a huge pocket of space just inside the French box. Adriana opens her body and attempts to steer into the top right. High and wide. A huge chance spurned.
22 min: Brazil paint some pretty triangles down the inside-right channel, Luana at the sharp end of most of them. But France stay firm. No way through.
21 min: Brazil are really up against it now. According to Jonathan Pearce on the BBC, they’ve never won a World Cup game having fallen behind, while France have never lost one after going ahead.
19 min: Le Sommer has looked super-lively from the get-go, and now she’s got her reward. That’s her 90th goal for France.
GOAL! France 1-0 Brazil (Le Sommer 17)
Another clever guided header by Le Sommer, and this time she’s not to be denied! Karchaoui, quarterbacking from a deep position on the left, rakes a long diagonal cross towards Diani, who rises highest at the far stick. Diani heads across goal. Le Sommer, six yards out, steers a header across Leticia and into the net for a wonderfully crafted opener!
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16 min: Le Sommer and Dali combine niftily down the right but the latter is halted by a fine sliding tackle from Rafelle. But France come again, and …
15 min: Bacha clanks into the back of Kerolin, 25 yards from the French goal. Adriana takes the free kick and attempts to whip one into the bottom left. Too much whip, and it flies harmlessly wide left.
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13 min: Lauren ships possession carelessly in midfield and France counter at speed. Le Sommer enters the box down the right and could legitimately go down having been clipped by Rafelle, but sportingly stays upright. She nearly gets her reward from the next phase of play, when a Dali cross comes in from the right. She steers a header towards the bottom right only to be denied by Leticia’s outstretched arm. Fine play all round.
11 min: Geyse presses hard, causing Lakrar to roll a hospital pass to Peyraud-Magnin, who is forced to hack clear in a panic. Then another French rush of blood as Dali slides in recklessly on Tamires and picks up the first booking of the evening.
9 min: A breezy start to the game segues into a slight lull. Both teams unwilling to show their hand too early.
7 min: Perisset has a dig from 25 yards. The ball flies 25 yards over the bar. Hey, if you don’t buy a ticket, etc.
6 min: Karchaoui chases after a ball down the inside-left channel, enters the area, and falls to the floor in the vague environs of the covering Antonia. Karchaoui wants a penalty but the referee is quite rightly not interested. We play on.
5 min: Dali’s neat footwork releases Diani down the right. A cutback makes it all the way through to Toletti, arriving late from deep. Toletti shoots, but not particularly fiercely, and Leticia claims easily.
3 min: France’s turn to show in attack. Perisset rolls a clever ball down the right to release Le Sommer into acres. Le Sommer can’t find Diani in the middle with her low cross, intercepted by Rafelle, but the flag pings up for offside.
2 min: Brazil are on the front foot early doors. Debinha feeds the rampaging full back Antonia down the right. Antonia whips in low. Peyraud-Magnin gathers easily enough, and it turns out the ball had gone out for a throw anyway.
France get the ball rolling. Here we go, then. The Brisbane crowd is bubbling away nicely. One hell of an atmosphere.
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The teams are out! France wear blue, Brazil yellow. This is not breaking news. Neither is the fact that both La Marseillaise and Hino Nacional Brasileiro are absolute bangers. A couple of truly great anthems that scream SEISMIC EVENT HAPPENING RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
“Good that both Wendie Renard and Marta are in the picture,” writes Charles Antaki, who is anticipating one heck of a battle. “Shame that this wasn’t a knockout game, especially the final; one could easily imagine Fifa having made a special rule that if it came to it after penalties were indecisive, they’d get all the other players off the field and make it a one-to-one battle between these two, possibly relocated to the top of Uluru or an extinct volcano in New Zealand.”
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France have the sign over Brazil right now. They’ve won six and drawn one of the last seven matches between the countries. Here’s what happened the last time they met at the World Cup, four years ago.
Brazil will make it through to the knockout stage if they win this one. They’ll not be the first team in yellow to get there, though. Australia Sweden have beaten them to it, having just completed a 5-0 demolition of Italy. Sarah Rendell reports on a tight tussle that suddenly morphed into a rout.
Edification dept. Our experts took a pre-tournament deep delve into the chances of both teams. Here’s what they had to say.
The big news for France: influential captain and defensive lynchpin Wendie Renard has shrugged off a calf injury and made it. Marta, the all-time top goalscorer at Women’s World Cups with 17, is on Brazil’s bench.
The teams
France: Peyraud-Magnin, Perisset, Lakrar, Renard, Karchaoui, Toletti, Geyoro, Dali, Diani, Le Sommer, Bacha.
Subs: Durand, Fazer, de Almeida, Majri, Mateo, Tounkara, Le Garrec, Asseyi, Feller, Cascarino, Becho, Picaud.
Brazil: Leticia, Antonia, Lauren, Rafaelle, Tamires, Ary Borges, Kerolin, Luana, Adriana, Debinha, Geyse Ferreira.
Subs: Barbara, Kathellen, Andressa, Ana Vitoria, Marta, Bruninha, Duda, Beatriz, Monica, Angelina, Gabi Nunes, Camila Gomes.
Referee: Kate Jacewicz (Australia).
Le 1️⃣1️⃣ français pour ce 2ème match de 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞 𝐝𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞 face au Brésil ⚔️
— Equipe de France Féminine (@equipedefranceF) July 29, 2023
Coup d'envoi à 12h sur @france2tv📺
🇫🇷🇧🇷 | #FRABRE | #FiersdetreBleues pic.twitter.com/bhEJUBYsSF
A #SeleçãoFeminina está escalada para o segundo jogo na @FIFAWWC! Vamos com tudo #PelaPrimeiraEstrela! ⭐️🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/daGw40H5rW
— Seleção Feminina de Futebol (@SelecaoFeminina) July 29, 2023
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Preamble
According to the Fifa rankings, France are the fifth best team in the world, while Brazil are ranked eighth. This is quite the first-round showdown, then, partly as both countries harbour realistic hopes of winning their first World Cup, but mainly because France have suffered a cold start and will be in a little spot of bother if they lose today …
… while Brazil opened their campaign by trouncing Panama 4-0 and scoring a team goal of outrageous quality …
… so France boss Hervé Renard will desperately be hoping Wendie Renard recovers from injury in time to face Ary Borges, who already has three tournament goals to her name. This has the potential to be an absolute cracker. Kick off at Lang Park, Brisbane is at 8pm local time, 11am in the UK. It’s on!
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 2 | France | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Jamaica | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Panama | 1 | -4 | 0 |
