Soubeyrand: We don't want this to end

Soubeyrand: We don't want this to end


In the first of this weekend’s FIFA Women’s World Cup™ quarter-finals, France, who have never been this far in the competition before, face England for a place in the last four. FIFA.com met up with Les Bleues captain Sandrine Soubeyrand in Leverkusen – the stage for Saturday’s winner-takes-all clash – where she took a stroll down memory lane, selecting the France-England games that have made the greatest impression on her during a long footballing career.

Her first experience of the fixture, on 15 February 1998 in Marseille, less than a year after making her international debut, remains a positive recollection for her. “It was tough going!" she said. "I’d never come across a team that played that way; they would launch the ball forward from the back and chase after it.”

Their opponents’ archetypal long-ball game came close to getting the better of France that day, as Soubeyrand and her team-mates found themselves continually pegged back by a resolute England team. “The game was utterly crazy. We made lots of mistakes, but we eventually won it 3-2,” recalled the international stalwart, who will earn her 164th cap on Saturday.

But her first taste of this combative clash is not necessarily the one she remembers most fondly. “The one I really treasure was in Saint-Etienne in 2002; we won 1-0 with a goal from Corinne Diacre. For me, the match was particularly special because I was born just down the road. I used to go and watch Les Verts at Geoffroy-Guichard stadium when I was little, so to actually appear on that pitch was truly amazing,” stated the 37-year-old Juvisy player.

A charity match in Marseille that coincided with her birthday is another one that sticks in her mind. “The men’s team had just won EURO 2000, and we came on before a France-Rest of the World game. The Velodrome was totally full – it was tremendous,” explained Soubeyrand.

Extending the adventure
Not all of her memories of playing against England bring a smile to the France skipper’s face, however. Surrounded by the empty stands of Bayer Leverkusen’s home ground, she stares off into the distance for a moment.

“In 2006, we’d drawn 0-0 in Blackburn, then 1-1 in Rennes – they were World Cup qualifiers," recalled the veteran midfielder. "Although we didn’t lose, their away goal put them through to the finals, while we stayed at home. It was the end of a generation, as lots of our players retired from international football after that disappointment. We had to go back to the drawing board and rebuild the team.”

Those retirees from that day included stars such as Marinette Pichon, France’s all-time leading scorer with 82 goals. But Soubeyrand would rather look forward to potential future triumphs than dwell on past slip-ups. For this veritable legend of French football, overcoming the Lionesses in the last eight would represent a major highlight of a magnificent career.

“Just like us, their team has changed a lot over the past few years. Even though they’re still a physical side, especially when going for 50-50 balls, they’ve got some skilful players who can beat their opposite number and get the ball forward quickly,” she pointed out, adding, “They’re definitely getting stronger – this is their third World Cup quarter-final, after all. It’ll also be the first time we’ve ever met in a knockout match, but history's made on the pitch not on paper.”

Aware that this will be her last FIFA Women’s World Cup, Soubeyrand would love this current adventure to continue: “We don’t want things to end; our group defeat by Germany really made that clear to us. We want to keep on improving. We know that we’ve got to do a better job of maintaining our consistency and intensity throughout 90 minutes, though,” she concluded. On Saturday in Leverkusen, she will be doing her utmost to ensure that her team-mates achieve exactly that.

Women’s round-up: February 2011

Women’s round-up: February 2011
(FIFA.com) Friday 25 February 2011
Print
Email my friend
Share

While there is a sense of calm before the coming storm on the international front as teams limber up for the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, the club scene is just hotting up, with a title decided in Australia and Germany’s big two battling it out. As February draws to a close, FIFA.com rounds up the main events in the female game.

Club Football
Roar on top Down Under
Brisbane Roar claimed their second Australian W-League title in three seasons with a 2-1 grand final victory over arch-rivals and reigning champions Sydney FC. The Sky Blues had finished the league season three points clear at the top of the table but it was the Roar who edged the play-off decider, exacting revenge for a 3-2 defeat in last season’s final. Matildas star Lisa De Vanna grabbed the winning goal midway through the second half while the Roar’s other goalscorer, Tameka Butt, was named player of the match.

Dominant duo do battle, Duisburg wield the axe
The race for the Frauen Bundesliga title is developing into one of the tightest and most dramatic in recent memory, with no room for error between the leading duo of Turbine Potsdam and FFC Frankfurt. Turbine are in pole position to successfully defend their title, but their rivals remain just a point behind after a month in which neither has dropped a single point. Frankfurt, in fact, have racked up an aggregate score of 26-0 in their February matches thus far, and boast a goal difference 36 superior to the leaders. Four points further back in third place are FCR 2001 Duisburg, who despite reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals, sacked coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg earlier this month following back-to-back domestic defeats to Turbine and Bayern Munich.

Ground broken in Palestine
The female game’s growth around the world continued earlier this month with the launch of a first-ever 11-a-side league in Palestine. Previously, women’s football in the troubled nation had only ever been played on an indoor, five-a-side basis, but a crowd of 11,000 turned out to give enthusiastic backing to the opening match of this new division. Deyara Bethlehem beat Sareiat YMCA Ramallah 2-0 in this historic encounter, and with the national team competing in ever more regional and continental tournaments, Palestinian women’s football looks set for a bright future.

National Teams
Hopefuls set off for Algarve and Cyprus
The Algarve and Cyprus Cups have become well-established fixtures in the women’s football calendar over recent times, and both will carry even greater interest this year. That’s because, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup just a few months away, these fiercely-contested tournaments are sure to be seen as an indicator of what we can expect from the various contenders at Germany 2011. Teams began arriving in Portugal last week for the Algarve event, which kicks off on Tuesday, with holders USA up against the likes of Japan, Norway and 2009 winners Sweden. Another five Germany-bound teams are heading to Cyprus, meanwhile, where Canada, England, France, New Zealand and Mexico will be aiming to signal their intent ahead of the female game’s showpiece event.

Germany 2011 hits the road
While tickets continue to sell like proverbial hotcakes at home, Germany have been taking the FIFA Women’s World Cup on the road with their Welcome Tour of the other 15 participating nations. The tour has taken in stops at Oslo, Paris and London since our last monthly round-up, with Organising Committee chairman Steffi Jones leading the efforts to promote not only the tournament but also women’s football as a whole. More information on the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Welcome Tour events can be found by clicking the links on the right.

The stat
510,000 – The incredible number of tickets that have now been sold for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany. The fourth phase of ticket sales came to an end on Sunday with 80,000 fresh orders having been received, and all tickets for Germany’s group games – save for restricted view seats – have been sold out.

The quote
“The biggest [area of] development has been in technique. There are no longer huge gaps between teams in terms of performance, which wasn’t the case before... The next step will be tactics. Reading the game and making decisions when play is in full flight will be the next challenge,” USA coach Pia Sundhage on women’s football’s progress and main area for improvement.