Herve Renard and his Les Bleues beat Morocco 4-0 to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on Wednesday.
Kadidiatou opened the scoring in the 15th minute before Kenza Dali scored off Diani’s assist in the 20th minute, and Eugenie Le Sommer added a brace to help Les Bleues secure qualification with an emphatic victory.
Renard, who became the first manager to win a match in both the men’s and women’s World Cups with Saudi Arabia and France, respectively, told reporters that his team is prepared to hurt Australia in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
“We are hoping to put Australia through exactly what France went through when we were the host country in 2019,” he said.
France were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the previous edition by the USA following a 1-2 defeat.
Renard added: “We have come with great ambition, and if you have come with great ambition, you need to be capable of beating the best teams. There’s nothing to fear here, but we will respect Australia because it has a lot of qualities.”
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The two-time African champion says the hosts could as well suffer the same fate his team went through in 2019.
“We know exactly what we are in for. We know that the host country can be a good or bad thing. This is what the French team went through in 2019. It can be hugely disappointing, as it was for France when they were knocked out,”
The Blues have yet to lose a match at this year’s World Cup. They drew 0-0 with Jamaica before beating Brazil, Panama, and Morocco 2-1, 3-6, and 4-0, respectively.
