He missed a penalty kick, let the ball bounce and miss the free arc: French Renard’s mistake at the European Women’s Championship.

* The amazing move in the Women’s Euro

It could have been the perfect night for a French player Wendy Renard A penalty kick could have decorated the result with his team’s victory over Belgium in the second date of the tournament European Women’s Championship, but the opposing goalkeeper and the weak goal played a trick on him. At the conclusion of the match, which was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, an unusual event occurred that not even the French player herself should have explained.

It was the end of the match and the score was 2-1, blues They had a penalty in favor. In the 89th minute, Renard took charge of the shot, but he announced it and the goalkeeper covered it Nikki Evard. The Frenchwoman was rebounding from the left, and with the goalkeeper defeated and the keeper vacant, she blocked a shot with her left foot. The defender missed the ball because she caught it as it fell, and the imbalance affected her shot.

The disappointing face of Olympique Lyonnais said it all, and after winning and qualifying for the quarter-finals, she was left feeling bitter that she couldn’t turn into an obvious opportunity. While the Belgians, after their defeat, greeted their goalkeeper as if she had avoided a penalty worthy of a title.

While all the goals were in the first half. France scored them with a header, through Kadidiatou Diani (6 minutes) and Greg Mbok (41). for Belgium, Janice Cayman He scored a partial equalizer in the 36th minute.

Ultimately, the Belgians looked for equality, but found themselves with a strong French defense that took care of the result and could even widen the difference between them, beyond the tragedy of Renard.

Thursday’s victory was very different for France than the victory they had on the first date, which crushed Italy 5-1. In the Group D classification, France adds 6 points, while Iceland accompanies 2 points. Italy and Belgium lock the switch with one point each. In the other match in the region also held on Thursday, Italy and Iceland tied 1-1.

Although the match remains against Iceland, in the next case, France will be measured in the quarter-finals with the second seed from Group C (Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal or Switzerland).

Besides the situation witnessed by the penalty kick, the other bad thing for France was the striker Marie Antoinette CatotoHe had to leave the field of play after a quarter of an hour due to an injury. He was hit in the knee during training before the match, and in the first minutes he had pain that prevented him from continuing.

The tournament will continue on Friday with two Group A matches, and Northern Ireland will test itself against England, in the match in Southampton. The other confrontation will also be in the UK, and it will be between Austria and Norway in Brighton.

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