Euro 2025 Qualifications: Les Bleues smile again with a controlled victory against Ireland to launch their campaign

The Blues are moving forward again. The French team dominated, without ever trembling, the uninspired Irish women, Friday April 5 in Metz. A great reaction from Hervé Renard’s players, outclassed by the Spanish world champions at the end of February. This logical success dispels some of the doubts that arose after this lost Nations League final.

For the occasion, the coach had remodeled his system by starting Kenza Dali – on the bench at the Final Four – in a three-way midfielder. A choice that paid off since the Aston Villa player, in all the good shots, kicked the free kick which resulted in Marie-Antoinette Katoto’s early opening score on a deflection from Maëlle Lakrar (6th, 1-0) . Behind, the Blues tried to increase the score, in vain, despite a header on the crossbar from Eugénie Le Sommer (65th).

Thanks to this result acquired against the least tough of their three opponents (25th nation in the Fifa ranking), the French women take the lead in their qualifying group for Euro 2025 in Switzerland. A good omen before a perilous trip to Gothenburg on Tuesday, on the Swedish pitch. For the Blues, it will be a question of passing this full-scale test in order to completely regain confidence, less than four months before the Games.

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