Sakina Karchaoui on France Women’s team manager Hervé Renard: “His open-mindedness is amazing.” | OneFootball

Newly-appointed France Women’s team manager Hervé Renard seems to be making an impression within his squad. The former Saudi Arabia manager replaced Corinne Diacre in the France’s dugout following her dismissal by the French FA in the wake of a player exodus, led by skipper Wendie Renard. Speaking to L’Équipe, international PSG left-back Sakina Karchaoui (27) has described the enthusiasm generated by Renard’s beginnings as Les Bleues’ boss. “It’s a new era, he has brought with him what he does best, notably on the human side of things. His open-mindedness is amazing.”

The 27-year-old defender came off the bench for Renard’s first game as manager of France’s women team, a 5-2 win over Colombia after going 2-0 down. “All the girls and I were really moved by his pre-game speech. When he talks, we feel a great sincerity and the love for our country. We owed it to ourselves to win his first game“, Karchaoui added. Les Bleues will play their last friendly game before the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday. They will face Canada, who won the Olympic tournament during the 2021 Tokyo Games.

The PSG left-back has also positively welcomed the inclusion of four new assistant coaches to the France set-up, a striking contrast of Diacre’s tenure with the former Clermont manager only needing two deputy coaches. “It’s good for everyone to be able to rely on all this staff and to profit this expertise. It marks a change with the previous system.”

GFFN | Bastien Cheval