Coach of Morocco, the opponent of the French team in the round of 16 of the Women’s World Cup next Tuesday, Reynald Pedros knows Eugénie Le Sommer, his former player at OL, perfectly. He knows very well how to contain Kadi Diani, the other Blue striker.
It’s quite funny: in the round of 16 of the World Cup, Tuesday in Adelaide (1 p.m. French time, live on M6), the French women’s team comes across a Moroccan selection led by a Frenchman. And not just anyone: Reynald Pedros, who was OL women’s coach from 2017 to 2019 and therefore had under his command Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, Wendie Renard, Kenza Dali, Selma Bacha, Amel Majri and Eugénie The Sommer. Just that !
Pedros having won two women’s D1 titles and as many Champions League titles at Fenottes (the female equivalent of Les Gones), we can estimate that the 51-year-old technician knows the other holders of Hervé Renard’s Bleues very well. Starting with Kadidiatou Diani, Le Sommer’s attacking sidekick in the French 4-2-2, and also the best French player since the 2019 World Cup.
The golazo of Katato
But Diani has never scored against OL de Pedros in 6 matches during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons, in the league and in the Coupe de France. At the same time, the Lyonnaises rarely conceded goals against the Parisiennes at the time. On a Diani cross from the right and muddled by OL, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, with a sombrero-strike sequence from the left, offered the 2018 French Cup to PSG.
The following season, OL Women had conceded only one goal in 3 games against their great rival in the women’s elite, in a 1-1 draw at Jean-Bouin in the league. China’s Wang Shuang had opened the scoring on a blunder by Sarah Bouhaddi, before an equalizer by Wendie Renard (with a header, for a change). Ève Périsset and Grace Geyoro were also holders on the Parisian side. Here are two other players for whom Pedros has no secrets.