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The Soccer Team Built to Beat the U.S.
The Soccer Team Built to Beat the U.S.
With increased funding from the sport’s top clubs and a swaggering style, France has emerged as a superpower—designed to take down the Americans
By Joshua Robinson
https://twitter.com/JoshRobinson23
JOSHUA.ROBINSON@WSJ.COM
June 26, 2019 7:00 am ET
PARIS—The highest compliment anyone ever paid the French national team, as far as its captain is concerned, came in the heat of the moment from Abby Wambach. ... At the conclusion of a bruising encounter several years ago between two of the strongest teams in women’s soccer, French defender Wendie Renard says, the U.S.’s greatest ever goal scorer told her that the Americans just hate playing against France. Those words have obsessed Renard for years. ... “That sentence is right here,” Renard said, pointing at her temple. “It’s up here for life.”
Now France and the U.S. will play Friday in the quarterfinals, with the winner emerging as the clear favorite to hoist the World Cup after the final on July 7. Both sides won their groups and ground through their round-of-16 matchups to set up the heavyweight clash of the tournament in Paris. And if the U.S. hates facing France, it’s with good reason: the hosts are the one team in world soccer built specifically to take down the Americans. ... “They like to dominate and squash opponents,” Renard said. “As soon as you prevent them from doing that, they start to doubt…They know we do things they’re not used to seeing.”
Since the last World Cup final four years ago, the defending champion U.S. team has played 75 matches. They lost just five of them. France was the only team in world soccer to beat them twice. Les Bleues dealt the Americans a 3-0 defeat, their worst in nearly a decade, at the 2017 She Believes Cup, and more recently dominated them 3-1 on a frigid night in Le Havre in January. ... “The U.S. is ranked No. 1, but I still think France is the favorite,” said former U.S. national team player Aly Wagner, who is now an analyst for Fox, before the World Cup. “Talent-wise, I think they’re off the charts. I think they’re revolutionizing the game. There’s a fluidity in their system.”
In other words, the same qualities that made France’s men’s team the best in the world infuse its women’s team, too. The biggest knock on Les Bleues was that they were simply too French. They played stylish, technically-minded soccer that was beautiful to watch and infuriating to face. But they were temperamental. They wilted when things broke against them, which is why their best major-tournament results are only a pair of fourth-place finishes at the 2011 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. ... Still, France kept the U.S. in its sights. After all, the U.S. women’s national team has been soccer’s gold standard for as long as there has been a Women’s World Cup. With a deep player pool, a culture of athleticism, and the vast infrastructure of college sports, the program quickly turned into a conveyor belt of talent. No one could match the Americans on the field, because no one was even close off the field.
....
Write to Joshua Robinson at joshua.robinson@wsj.com
With increased funding from the sport’s top clubs and a swaggering style, France has emerged as a superpower—designed to take down the Americans
By Joshua Robinson
https://twitter.com/JoshRobinson23
JOSHUA.ROBINSON@WSJ.COM
June 26, 2019 7:00 am ET
PARIS—The highest compliment anyone ever paid the French national team, as far as its captain is concerned, came in the heat of the moment from Abby Wambach. ... At the conclusion of a bruising encounter several years ago between two of the strongest teams in women’s soccer, French defender Wendie Renard says, the U.S.’s greatest ever goal scorer told her that the Americans just hate playing against France. Those words have obsessed Renard for years. ... “That sentence is right here,” Renard said, pointing at her temple. “It’s up here for life.”
Now France and the U.S. will play Friday in the quarterfinals, with the winner emerging as the clear favorite to hoist the World Cup after the final on July 7. Both sides won their groups and ground through their round-of-16 matchups to set up the heavyweight clash of the tournament in Paris. And if the U.S. hates facing France, it’s with good reason: the hosts are the one team in world soccer built specifically to take down the Americans. ... “They like to dominate and squash opponents,” Renard said. “As soon as you prevent them from doing that, they start to doubt…They know we do things they’re not used to seeing.”
Since the last World Cup final four years ago, the defending champion U.S. team has played 75 matches. They lost just five of them. France was the only team in world soccer to beat them twice. Les Bleues dealt the Americans a 3-0 defeat, their worst in nearly a decade, at the 2017 She Believes Cup, and more recently dominated them 3-1 on a frigid night in Le Havre in January. ... “The U.S. is ranked No. 1, but I still think France is the favorite,” said former U.S. national team player Aly Wagner, who is now an analyst for Fox, before the World Cup. “Talent-wise, I think they’re off the charts. I think they’re revolutionizing the game. There’s a fluidity in their system.”
In other words, the same qualities that made France’s men’s team the best in the world infuse its women’s team, too. The biggest knock on Les Bleues was that they were simply too French. They played stylish, technically-minded soccer that was beautiful to watch and infuriating to face. But they were temperamental. They wilted when things broke against them, which is why their best major-tournament results are only a pair of fourth-place finishes at the 2011 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. ... Still, France kept the U.S. in its sights. After all, the U.S. women’s national team has been soccer’s gold standard for as long as there has been a Women’s World Cup. With a deep player pool, a culture of athleticism, and the vast infrastructure of college sports, the program quickly turned into a conveyor belt of talent. No one could match the Americans on the field, because no one was even close off the field.
....
Write to Joshua Robinson at joshua.robinson@wsj.com
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