If the Bleues of Jean-Aimé Toupane the new coach, bronze medalists of the last Olympic Games, do not want to go to the 2022 World Cup in Australia, they will really have to do it on purpose. Because the draw for the playoffs which took place on Tuesday noon was very, but very lenient with them.
From February 10 to 13 in Belgrade, Serbia, Sandrine Gruda’s partners will successively face China, Nigeria and Mali. Only one of these four teams will not go to Australia. It will therefore be enough for the Bleues to win one or even a maximum of two matches to qualify. Apart from China, we do not see how, on paper, Mali and Nigeria could prevent them from making the trip.
The France team will therefore find China, finalist of the last Asian Cup. The Blues remain on six wins against China and their last defeat dates back to the group stage of the 2006 World Cup. Nigeria, the Blues know: they had faced the Nigerians at the Tokyo Games for an 87-62 victory. African champions, they created a sensation during the 2018 World Cup by reaching the quarter-finals.
The innocent hand of Sonja Vasic, MVP of the last Euro with Serbia (against France) before retiring, placed Mali in the group of the Blue. The Malians will try to qualify for a second World Cup, after the 2010 edition. Note that Australia and the United States are also competing in these qualifying phases even if the two nations have already qualified. The Women’s World Cup will take place from September 21 to October 1, 2022 in Sydney.
The different qualifying groups are: group A (Belgrade): Australia, Serbia, Brazil and South Korea. Group B (Belgrade): France, China, Nigeria and Mali. Group C (Osaka): Canada, Japan, Belarus and Puerto Rico. Group D (Washington): United States, Belgium, Russia and Bosnia.
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