Group D: 5-1 v Italy – France dominated for a half

The French national soccer team underpinned their ambitions to win the title at the European Championships in England with a strong performance. After a furious first half, “Les Bleues” already led 5:0 against Italy, in the end it was 5:1. Grace Geyoro stood out with three hits.

The French national team’s first European Championship appearance in preliminary round group D was a demonstration of footballing strength and a clear signal to the competition from England, Spain, Norway, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. Coach Corinne Diacre’s team, considered favorites in the squad even before the start of the tournament due to their strong individual class, showed an impressive performance against Italy on Sunday (07/10/22), especially before the break.

The southern Europeans, on the other hand, who were vice European champions in 1993 and 1997, have to improve significantly in order to collect the necessary points in the other two games to make it into the quarter-finals. The group opponents Belgium and Iceland separate in their duel 1:1, so that Italy occupies the last place after the first matchday.

France makes an impact with offensive pressing

At the New York Stadium in Rotherham, “Les Bleues” started as if they were running with blue lights: The defense was built up quickly and directly, with aggressive offensive pressing also completely crippling the Italians’ build-up play. An example of this: when the Italian keeper Laura Giuliani kicked the ball, all three attackers from the Equipe Tricolore were waiting on the edge of the penalty area to win the ball.

Italy, who had to do without Valentina Cernoia because of a positive corona test, still had the first big chance of the game, which Barbara Bonansea (4th) missed. After that, however, the French celebrated a footballing lesson on the pitch: Driven on by the extremely strong wingers Kadidiatou Diani on the right and Delphine Cascarino on the left, France literally dismantled the opposing defense into its individual parts.

Geyoro scores three times in her 50th international match

The logical consequence: France quickly converted their superiority into (first) goals. Grace Geyoro benefited in the penalty area after a Diani pass from a mistake by the Italian captain Sara Gama – 1:0 (9th). Three minutes later, top striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto made it 2-0 (her 26th goal in 31st international match), and her header then landed on the right post (15′).

Even after this reassuring intermediate result, France continued to be highly concentrated and aggressive, but the Italians didn’t react at all to the deficit. Cascarino increased the lead to 3-0 (38′) with a powerful shot into the right corner, after which Geyoro crowned their 50th international match with two more goals to make it 4-0 and 5-0 (40’/45′). The game already had a “player of the game” at the break – and Italy a humiliation in their luggage.

Italian Gama in luck: only yellow instead of red

After the change of sides, the French gave the Italians a little more space, but the team of national coach Milena Bertolini did not put the goal from “Les Bleues” in serious danger for a long time. There was a lot of excitement when Italy’s captain Gama saw a red card after a very rustic tackle on Geyoro’s body (63′). Referee Rebecca Welch from the EM host country reversed her decision after viewing the video images and switched to yellow – very lucky for the Italian.

The end of the game came from substitute Martina Piemonte, who made France’s experienced captain and central defender Wendie Renard look pretty bad when she scored a consolation goal to make it 5-1 in the 76th minute.