Women’s Euro 2022 – French team: Delphine Cascarino, the shadow of a doubt

This time, no glasses but a shot of rare purity, rewarded by obtaining the honorary title of the best goal of the first matches. “Saki (Sakina Karchaoui, NLDR) gives me the ball back, I see that I am not attacked, that I am alone, so I tried my luckshe rewinded on Sunday when returning to her pawn. Take my chance? This is not an instruction from the coach but I try to get into this position more often“.

Sacrificed to the left?

This position, precisely, has nothing natural for her. The bomb of French football is a pure right winger, capable of eliminating any opponent on an acceleration. The one who was flashed at 31.2 km / h in C1 this season is a player apart, with enormous talent but with a still imperfect left foot. It is however on this side that she started this Euro, and that she risks finishing it. Choice of Corinne Deacon, who absolutely wanted to rely on the power of Kadidiatou Diani on the right but also on her complicity with Marie-Antoinette Katoto, partner at PSG.

And, until now, it is especially Cascarino who suffers from it. If her goal against Italy came to reward an interesting activity, she still seems embarrassed when delivering pancakes from her left foot. “It’s a choice of team more than of playersbelieves his former coach. She needs to find marks on that side. His left foot lacks a bit of power. She is less comfortable“. An opinion that stuck to what Deacon said last April, convinced of the benefits of this use. “She just has to get used to it, she can choose what gesture to make“explained the coach. An observation that could finally perfectly sum up the trajectory of a player who has not yet crossed the expected milestone at 25 years old.

In 2016, when she was only 19, she celebrated her first selection under the thumb of Olivier Echouafni before returning with the U20s for this World Cup in Papua New Guinea. From an early age, Cascarino impressed. Because she makes crazy differences and because her flaws seem easy to erase over time.

“Delphine, she reminds me a bit of Kylian Mbappé, I always told her! She’s a very great player, she’s a player of the future“, even advanced Amel Majri in 2019 on his teammate at OL. But unlike the Parisian, Cascarino has not yet completed his transformation into a killer of surfaces. His record in selection (11 goals in 43 selections) reflects this impression well. messy at the finish.

“I remain on my hungerhonestly admits Gilles Eyquem as to the evolution of his former captain. It’s surprising actually. If we take the example of Melvine Malard: she has made great progress in recent months, her game has evolved. But for Delphine, I always have the impression of seeing the same player, with incredible qualities of speed and striking. But she lacks consistency, sometimes you wonder ‘why she doesn’t go’. She’s a girl who is capable of knocking out anyone and sometimes she stays inside. We have the impression that she does not dare, that she does not follow through with her actions. It’s really frustrating“.

“Ballon d’Or” project

So, for this Euro, Cascarino must change. At OL, where she won everything, her right-hand percussion playing fits wonderfully with the game advocated by Sonia Bompastor. It was the latter who insisted that the Lyonnaise extend as soon as she arrived as OL coach. Last May, it was therefore until 2024 that she re-engaged with her lifelong club.

“We have big personal goals with her, including winning the Ballon d’Or as soon as possible.Bompastor then explained. She really has all the potential to achieve it“. “Of course I think about it. It’s a goal, why not. OL can help me reach that level“, she advanced on her side.

Faced with these challenges, Cascarino never hid, even evoking Eugénie Le Sommer’s goalscoring record with Les Bleues (86) with envy. Before that, it will also be necessary to succeed in completing a virgin international record where that in club is hallucinating (delirious repetition of the chapô) (6 C1, 7 championships, 5 French Cups). For that, you will have to take a step. And keep lighting from its left side. History of finally reconciling potential and performance?