ANOTHER quarter-final exit at a major tournament has left France’s women’s football team questioning when their moment of glory will arrive. Despite entering Euro 2025 on an 11-match winning streak, Les Bleues fell to Germany in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in extra time, losing 6-5 despite playing most of the match with a numerical advantage.
Grace Geyoro, who scored France’s lone goal from the penalty spot in the 14th minute, summed up the frustration: “We’re wondering when it’s going to be smiling for us at last.” The defeat extends a painful pattern—France has now been eliminated in the quarter-finals in seven of their last nine World Cup or European Championship campaigns, including their past two Olympic appearances in 2016 and 2024.
Head coach Laurent Bonadei, appointed in August 2024, defended his squad selection, which controversially excluded veterans Wendie Renard and Eugénie Le Sommer. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,“ he said, quoting Einstein. “I want different results for this team, so I have gone with a different selection.”
Defender Sakina Karchaoui admitted the loss was “totally frustrating” but urged the team to stay positive. “We had so much faith in this group, in what we’ve built up,“ she said. “But we don’t have to throw it all away; on the contrary, you have to take a lot of positive things from it.”
Bonadei highlighted an upcoming Nations League semi-final against Germany in October as a chance for redemption. Meanwhile, Germany advances to face world champions Spain in the Euro 2025 semi-finals. – Reuters
