France v Brazil

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France v Brazil

France Edge Brazil As Legends Bow Out

by Jeremy Ruane

The FIFA Women's World Cup Finals bid adieu to three of its legendary players on June 23, as France edged Brazil 2-1 after extra time in front of 23,965 fans at the Stade Oceane in Le Havre to advance to the quarter-finals.

While there was delight surrounding the host nation's continued involvement in France 2019, there was also disappointment in the result, as Brazil's defeat marks the last time the FIFA Women's World Cup Finals will boast the legendary trio of Cristiane, Formiga and Marta, at least in an on-field capacity.

To describe the first half of what we hoped would be a mouthwatering clash between these two football titans as cagey is something of an understatement, with both sides rather cancelling each other out.

Early Amel Majri shots were dealt with well by Barbara, while Marta wriggled through a couple of challenges in the ninth minute, before shooting between two more defenders, but directing her shot wide of the mark in the process.

Debinha saw a shot blocked on the quarter-hour, after which came the major talking point of the half, a disallowed French goal. Marion Torrent threw the ball in to Kadidiatou Diani in the 23rd minute, with the winger turning Tamires before firing a cross into the heart of the goalmouth.

Barbara came to meet it, but encountered Valerie Gauvin flying in attempting to head it home. The 'keeper got to it first, but the ball ricocheted off the striker's shoulder and looped into the net, with the two players colliding prior to it doing so.

A Video Assistant Referee check took place after treatment had been administered to both players, and Canadian referee Marie-Soleil Beaudoin incurred the wrath of the partisan crowd by overruling the goal in favour of a defensive free-kick.

It took a full fifteen minutes for the next shot in anger to be fired, Marta picking out Cristiane with a corner which the striker headed towards the far post. Sarah Bouhaddi grabbed this effort, and was well placed to thwart Cristiane's drive at the near post six minutes later.

In between times, Eugenie Le Sommer and the overlapping figure of Majri combined to present Viviane Asseyi with the chance to break the deadlock, but the flank player was at full stretch upon receipt of the cross, and couldn't direct her effort on target.

Right on half-time, Tamires cleared the ball to Elise Bussaglia, who instantly switched play to Majri on the far side of the area. She blazed over from ten yards - a fitting finish to a half which promised plenty, but delivered very little.

By comparison, the second half delivered truckloads. Le Sommer failed to do justice to Diani's super run with a poor finish five minutes after the resumption of play, but when Diani tore down the right to the byline two minutes later, her efforts were rewarded by the sight of Gauvin sliding in at the near post to open the scoring.

Within three minutes, Brazil could have been level. Marta's free-kick picked out Cristiane, whose header was dipping into the net when Bouhaddi tipped it onto the crossbar.

Back came France, with Wendie Renard unable to direct her header on target from Majri's cross, before Gauvin got in the way of a goal-bound Le Sommer shot, much to the frustration of the goalscorer.

There was even more frustration for France in the 63rd minute, as Brazil equalised. Debinha broke clear on the left and delivered a cross into the box which was cleared to Thaisa, who drove the ball home from ten yards into the far corner of the net.

Brazilian delight was short-lived, however, as the offside flag was raised, ruling out the goal. But the

VAR intervened and prompted that call to be overturned, and the goal awarded, silencing the French fans.

A plethora of substitutions and bookings - among these Formiga, in what will surely be the 41-year-old's last hurrah - followed which broke up the momentum of the match, with just two chances materialising in the next twenty minutes.

The unmarked Le Sommer headed a Majri free-kick past the post in the 72nd minute, while two minutes later Bouhaddi was forced to smother a Debinha drive after she had been released by substitute Beatriz.

There was huge drama in the final minutes of the match, during which Brazil were in the ascendancy. Bouhaddi smothered a Marta free-kick in the 85th minute, while sixty seconds later Tamires had the ball in the net, only for the offside flag to come to France's aid.

Le Sommer then thwarted another Marta effort before Bussaglia gifted possession to Debinha, deep in injury time. She played the ball through to Beatriz, whose finish was of the high, wide and far from handsome variety, much to her team-mates' despair.

For it meant that extra time was upon us, during the early stages of which Cristiane hobbled off the pitch - a sad way for this great servant of the women's game to bid her adieu.

Her departure coincided with renewed attacking vigour from the French, Diani firing wildly wide after beating three players, before being unable to turn the ball home on the stretch after Gaetane Thiney's free-kick to the far post had been headed back across goal by Amandine Henry in the 100th minute.

Barbara then grabbed a Diani header following a short corner routine, while as the first half of extra time drew to a close, Brazil's last chance to clinch the contest materialised, and they came desperately close to silencing the gathered throngs once more.

Geyse, Cristiane's replacement, sent Debinha dashing in off the left flank once more. Into the penalty area she charged, before slipping a shot under Bouhaddi's dive. The ball was bound for the bottom far corner of the net until Griedge Mbock Bathy slid in to clear the ball off the line, to the roars of the French faithful.

Who were roaring all the louder in the 106th minute, as Majri whipped in a free-kick from the right. Henry got in front of Monica in the race for the ball and steered it past the stunned figure of Barbara into the bottom corner of the net - France 2-1.

From here on, there was only going to be one team who would score again. Diani - what a game she had! - went close before Thiney shot past the far post after working an opening with Le Sommer.

Brazil were a beaten side by the time a chorus of "La Marseillaise" cascaded around the stadium in the shadows of the final whistle, and when it sounded moments later, the host nation's delight was visible for all to see.

So, too, Brazilian tears, and sadness as their exit surely brings the curtain down on the international careers of Cristiane, Formiga and Marta, three women who have carried "A Selecao" on their shoulders for well over a decade, and done so with some style.

France: Bouhaddi; Torrent (Perisset, 109), Mbock Bathy, Renard (booked, 36), Majri (Karchaoui, 118); Diani, Henry, Bussaglia, Asseyi (Thiney, 81); Gauvin (Cascarino, 90), Le Sommer

Brazil: Barbara; Leticia Santos (Poliana, 89), Kathellen (booked, 101), Monica, Tamires (booked, 45); Formiga (booked, 70) (Andressinha, 75), Thaisa, Marta; Ludmila (Beatriz, 71 (booked, 83)), Cristiane (Geyse, 96), Debinha

Referee: Marie-Soleil Beaudoin (Canada)

Knockout Matches