SYDNEY (AP) — Sizing up a fifth-ranked France lineup led by Wendie Renard is important for Panama’s players and coaching staff in planning for their Women’s World Cup group finale.
Combating the scoring threat on Wednesday takes it to a higher level, as the Brazilian team found last weekend.
“Wendie, she is maybe one of the tallest players in the world,” France coach Hervé Renard said of his veteran team captain. “She has very good timing.”
She uses that height and timing to full advantage when she switches from defense to offense mode for the set pieces. Four of Renard’s five career goals at the Women’s World Cup have come from set pieces, including the winner against Brazil last weekend in a pivotal Group F encounter.
Brazil’s players and coaches focused on strategies to defend the set pieces against France and were convinced they were ready. Somehow, though, Renard found herself unmarked at the back post to meet a corner kick from Selma Bacha, and in perfect position for a header to clinch a 2-1 win.
Panama took note.
“I don’t mind her size,” Panama defender Wendy Natis said. “I don’t mind who she is. I want to go out there and do my job.”
Les Bleues went to the top of the group with four points following that win over Brazil, rebounding from a widely criticized opening 0-0 draw against Jamaica.
“She’s the best at inside set pieces,” French midfielder Kenza Dali said of Renard. “I know if I do the right thing, she’s going to score.”
At 33 and in her fourth World Cup, Renard is still providing the answers for France, even doing so while not fully healthy. After dealing with a lingering calf injury in the week leading up to the match against Brazil, the captain’s availability to start against Panama is in question.
On Tuesday, France team management said a decision on Renard’s match fitness would be left to game day.
The only Panama player who comes close to Renard in terms of height is goalkeeper Farissa Córdoba, who is an inch shorter at 6-feet-1 (1.85 meters).
“She can be really dangerous in high balls,” Panama coach Ignacio Quintana said. “We’re going to try to present a game where we don’t have to put it so easy for her.”
Renard’s frame and ability to score in the air has been problematic for opponents at both club and international levels.
At the 2019 Women’s World Cup, where Renard was listed as the tallest player in tournament, France opened play with a resounding 4-0 victory over South Korea. Renard scored twice from set pieces, raising the hopes of the home fans.
But the host nation’s ambitions ran short against the United States with a 2-1 loss in the quarterfinals. A late header by Renard from an indirect free kick was the lone goal in the final outing for Les Bleues in 2019.
Four years later, Renard has picked up where she left off in Paris, scoring her 35th international goal at a time when it really mattered.
“Of course she’s very good,” Renard, the coach, said. “But the best quality of Wendie is that she’s a leader.”
Gathered behind Renard, France will aim to push past its disappointing finish in 2019 by beating Panama on its way to the knockout stage.
“I’m very lucky to have a captain like Wendie,” said Hervé Renard, who guided Saudi Arabia at the men’s World Cup last year and took over the French women’s team in March. With France’s victory over Brazil, he became the first coach to win games at both men’s and women’s World Cups.
He’d like to think his captain’s goal against Brazil is just a taste of what’s to come in the 2023 World Cup: “I hope it was only the first goal from her.”
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Tori Newman is a student at the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
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AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup
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