Women’s World Cup 2023: Coach Herve Renard hails France, Sweden thrash Italy and Jamaica win

Coach Herve Renard burdened he by no means doubted his France staff would bounce again from a low-key begin to their Women’s World Cup marketing campaign after his facet handed Brazil a 2-1 defeat in Brisbane to kick-start their problem for the title.

Captain Wendie Renard scored with an 83rd minute header to earn Les Bleues a late victory over the South Americans on Saturday, banishing any issues following France’s 0-0 draw with Jamaica of their Group F opener final Sunday.

“I told you that I trusted my girls,” mentioned Herve Renard, who was appointed in March to switch Corinne Diacre. “I was fairly confident that they were going to pull it out of the bag this evening because, in their prep, in the way that they were concentrated, their focus, I knew that they wanted to get back on track.

“Things were missing from an efficiency point of view against Jamaica last time. Sometimes it’s good to get off to a shaky start because that sets the alarm bells ringing and then you’re able to get back onto your feet very quickly, because today we knew we did not have the right to make any mistakes.”

Sweden have ‘excellent weapon’ in set-piece prowess

Sweden have discovered a silver bullet of their menace from set items, as they thrased Italy 5-0 in Wellington to ebook their spot within the Women’s World Cup knockout stage.

Amanda Ilestedt received up nicely to go dwelling Jonna Andersson’s nook within the thirty ninth minute and produced a carbon copy of that effort for her second aim of the match within the fiftieth.

“We’ve been doing this for a long time already but we’ve allocated perhaps a little more time on set pieces,” Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson informed reporters. “Opponents will know and feel that this is something we do well in Sweden… It’s an excellent weapon as we move forward.”

It was the second time this match that Sweden benefited from their set piece prowess. Ilestedt scored the winner within the 2-1 victory over South Africa within the ninetieth minute when she met Kosovare Asllani’s nook with a robust header.

“Regardless of what you might think of Sweden’s type of play you can always look at the details in the game,” Gerhardsson mentioned. “(Set pieces are) a structural component where you can do a great deal.”

The 2003 runners-up are hoping to go all the way in which after having knocked on the door of World Cup glory a handful of instances earlier than. They completed third in 1991, 2011 and on the earlier version in 2019.

Jamaica knock out Panama with 1-0 win

Jamaica defender Allyson Swaby scored from a pointy header to steer her facet to a 1-0 win in opposition to Panama in Perth, preserving alive the Caribbean facet’s hopes of advancing to the final 16 of the Women’s World Cup.

Panama, who’ve but to open their account having misplaced earlier to Brazil 4-0, can not now progress forward of France and Jamaica who lead Group F with 4 factors.

“I think there was some wastefulness in front of goal. I didn’t think we were clinical,” successful coach Lorne Donaldson informed a press convention. “But we got the one that counted and that’s all that matters right now.”

Reuters