Women’s Soccer Round Up: Hervé Renard set to leave France

This week in women’s soccer, while there was plenty to talk about on the pitch, the biggest story came out of France as current national team manager Hervé Renard announced that he would be leaving the role after the Olympics this summer.

We also have derbies and rivalries from across Europe as the domestic leagues truly begin to heat up.

Hervé Renard out, Pascal Dupraz in?

In what was a sudden announcement to many, L’Equipe dropped the news that Hervé Renard did not plan to carry on as the manager for the French national team. Renard, who joined the set up last year to replace, will now look at new opportunities elsewhere when his contract ends on August 31, 2024.

The rumour is that Pascal Dupraz has expressed interest in replacing Renard after the Paris Olympics this summer. While that may be so, losing Renard will no doubt be a massive shock for fans of the national team. Renard came in at a time when the team needed a massive change and while they didn’t go as far as they would’ve wanted at the 2023 World Cup, you could see that Renard had them on the right track. This will no doubt push the team to try and win their first major trophy this summer while also place some uncertainty within the ranks as well as no replacement has been formerly announced yet.

Derbies/rivalries abound in Europe

This past weekend saw a number of key clashes in domestic leagues across Europe. In the WSL, Manchester City beat Manchester United, Chelsea beat West Ham, and Everton and Liverpool drew. This leaves Chelsea and Manchester City tied at the top of the table, while Arsenal sit six points behind both of them. Liverpool have now leapfrogged Manchester United into fourth due to these results and West Ham look increasingly likely to get relegated.

In Germany, Bayern Munich’s determination over recent seasons to overtake VfL Wolfsburg’s domination reached its zenith as they thumped their rivals by four goals to nil. While Wolfsburg were in the game for most of the first half, Bayern found another gear in the second half and pulled away with ease. Wolfsburg’s recent downward spiral can be attributed to the lack of development on and off the pitch, while Bayern, in complete opposite of that, are only getting better and better. Bayern now have a seven point lead at the top of the Frauen Bundesliga and don’t look like they’ll be letting that go any time soon.

In Spain, El Clásico reared it’s head once again, and once again, FC Barcelona slipped multiple goals past Real Madrid. Since their inception, Real Madrid have failed to beat Barcelona in any competition, both domestic and continental, and this season, with so many players’ contracts still up in the air, Madrid have fallen further behind their rivals. Those in charge will need to make some big decisions in the coming month, but more importantly to those who follow the team, there has to be a chance in manager. Alberto Toril has not taken the team further and has instead stagnated them. Los Blancas could lose a lot of big name players like Teresa Abelleira, Misa Rodriguez and Sandi Toletti due to Toril’s mismanagement, and for a team that’s looking to compete at the very highest level, that cannot happen.

Chicago and KC remain perfect in the NWSL

The Chicago Red Stars continue their rebuilt with a perfect start to the NWSL season. The Red Stars had their home opener against Seattle Reign FC and saw the visitors off in a 2-1 win. A lot has been done behind the scenes to improve things in Chicago and this great start to the season is a glimpse of the effect those changes have brought to this team. The return of Mal Swanson to full fitness has also brought a huge shift to the team on the pitch as well.

KC Current continue their ‘hammer and tongs’ approach to game, this time using it to get a 2-1 win away at San Diego Wave FC. In their opening match, the Current scored five goals while conceding four, and against San Diego they scored two while conceding one. This type of approach usually falls apart as teams figure you out and if you don’t tighten up defensively but the thing is, with the likes of Temwa Chawinga, Debinha and Bia Zaneratto, Kansas City could probably keep winning games in this fashion for a long while yet. If nothing else, they may become the team to watch just because of the number of goals they will create and potentially concede as well.