“Why not a little more turn! »

Last regional representative still engaged in the Women’s French Cup, AS Cannes (R1, photo) goes to FC Nantes (D2), Sunday (2:00 p.m.) in the round of 16. With the dream of a quarter-final in mind, as Éric Deletang, coach of the Dragonnes, confides.

The program of the 8th finals

In what state of mind do you approach this trip to FC Nantes?
Eric Deletang “This match is our eighth in the competition. We prepared it like the others previously [quatre entraînements hebdomadaires, de 20h00 à 21h30]. The Coupe de France is not our main objective this season but it is an added value for us, a way to progress in addition to the championship. We took one lap after the other and as always, the appetite comes with eating. Arrived there today, we say why not spend a little more time! We therefore approach this round of 16 in Nantes without putting too much pressure on ourselves but very concentrated and aware of the strengths that are ours.

Nantes is penultimate in its D2 group, Cannes is second in Regional 1. The level difference does not seem insurmountable.
We can indeed estimate that the margin is not large between them and us, especially since we are not quite an R1 team this year. Significant recruitment has been made to achieve our goal of joining the future Women’s Division 3. However, let’s not forget the course achieved by the Nantes women last season. They were in the race for the rise in D1 Arkema [deuxièmes du groupe A à un point derrière Le Havre AC] and reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France against Yzeure. They had difficulty restarting, their current concern is to maintain themselves, but they are a great team, and let’s not forget where we come from either.

Our president, Anny Courtade, wants to put us in the best conditions, identical to those of the N3 men’s flag team.

How did you get there, exactly?
I took over the ASC women’s team in January 2022, it was necessary to ensure the maintenance in R1 to be able to consider a new project, and we succeeded. The management has announced new ambitions, new objectives, and has allocated the resources accordingly. Eleven players* who have known the high regional level or the D2, have joined us. Our President, Mrs. Courtade [Anny Courtade, présidente du club depuis 2019], who knows top-level sport very well [Anny Courtade a présidé le RC Cannes de volley-ball féminin de 1993 à 2016, double champion d’Europe et vingt fois champion de France] wants to put us in the best conditions, identical to those of the men’s flag team of N3. She is very attentive to this, wants the team to become more professional in terms of organization and environment. We will thus travel from Nantes by plane and will arrive the day before the match.

Where are the strengths of your team in this season when it is still undefeated?
Since August, team cohesion has been quite easy, some players already knew each other [quatre précédemment à l’AC Avignon, deux au Stade Brestois, deux à l’OGC Nice], the amalgamation took place quite quickly around a hard core of old, emulation played, and everyone joined the new project. The group is quite young, we have a really very interesting collective, and we have quality individuals who allow us to be very effective in the defensive and offensive transition phases. The potential of this team is not yet exploited to 100% but it is underlying, we feel it. With eleven recruits and seven transferred, I cannot use all my staff, there are always three or four recruits who are on the side. This team has a soul, a strength. When we are down 2-0 against Strasbourg [en 16es de finale] and that we come back to win 3-2, we see it.

* Inès Arouaissa (Olympique de Marseille, D2, Moroccan international goalkeeper), Prescillia Case (Stade Brestois, D2, international U17), Baptysia Doisy (Stade Brestois), Océane Élineau (Thonon-Évian GG FC, D2), Maéva Froment (AC Avignon, R1), Élise Gaucher (Tarascon), Inès Koré (OGC Nice, D2), Louna Lapassouse (AC Avignon), Agathe Maez (AC Avignon), Monika Siskovic (OGC Nice), Adama Tamba (Grenoble Foot 38, D2) and Johanna Viollaz (AC Avignon).

🤩 CDF𝗙𝗙: 𝗦𝗿𝗮𝗿 Nantes – 𝗔𝗼𝘁𝗲

⏳ This Sunday at 2:00 p.m. our Dragonnes will challenge FC Nantes (D2) in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France Féminine.

😍 A beautiful poster for our players who are still undefeated since the start of the season. pic.twitter.com/VbRejr569l

— AS Cannes_Officiel (@ASCannes1902) January 24, 2023

Despite your exploits against Nice and Strasbourg and the possibility of taking another round, the championship remains your priority?
Our main deadline is right in front of us with the arrival of Monaco at home on Sunday February 12. ASM is ahead of us by three points at the moment, with one game more. This meeting will determine our end of the season and more simply our whole season. We should have won the first leg in the Principality (3-3), which would have allowed us to have a small cushion of points today. The girls are galvanized by the Coupe de France but after Nantes, we have a league match on Wednesday February 1, another on Sunday February 5, before the one against Monaco. On Sunday 12 at 5:00 p.m., we will know what will happen for next season.

AS Cannes retains significant potential and everyone will come back when the club regains its local supremacy.

You were talking about a sports project dedicated to the women’s section. What is it?
The women’s section of AS Cannes, with a hundred licensees, is brand new and still fragile, it is important to be able to work by projecting itself in time, to structure itself. Our president has this desire to do things well, our technical director Laurent Piombo [Conseiller technique départemental du District du Val-de-Marne de 2005 à 2017], also. We recruited a lot of players who also had the role of educator, all graduates. We know very well that without prior work on the small categories, on the pre-training and training of players and educators, we will not be able to be attractive, we will not be able to renew the workforce with young people trained the way we wishes. We cannot afford to recruit every time. If we go up to D3, our reserve could go from Departmental to R1, and we are also making sure to ensure our U18Fs in R1.

With its N3 team and its women, the club can experience two climbs at the end of the season.
Yes, it would be a very good season. It would make it possible to validate the efforts made and the means implemented. There is the N3 [leader du groupe D]our women [2es de R1]but also our female R1 [2e de D1 Côte-d’Azur]and our U19 which we hope to maintain in the national championship [10es du groupe D]. This club has a history, many great trainers have passed here, Guy Lacombe, Arsène Wenger, Érick Mombaerts, many good educators and good players. It has had its downhills and making up for lost time is always difficult when young people go elsewhere in search of a higher level. But it retains significant potential and everyone will come back when AS Cannes regains its local supremacy.

A quarter-final of the Women’s French Cup against OL or PSG at La Bocca [ancienne appellation du stade Pierre-de-Coubertin]your players must be dreaming about it…
Yes, the girls have that in mind and our president too. She would like things to go well on Sunday and for us to receive a visit from a big guy in Pierre-de-Coubertin for a quarter-final. For a woman of challenges taken up like her, I think she would be jubilant. Especially if we beat Monaco in the league first! »