Wendie Renard is one of the greatest footballers of our time. Not just physically. The French defender has picked up an insane number of titles at club level. It just doesn't want to work out with the national team. Not even against Germany.
Up until the fifth minute of added time, Wendie Renard believed that the turnaround against Germany could still succeed. She directed her French colleagues up until the fifth minute of stoppage time and explained where the ball had to go. On her head, that was clear anyway. Because Wendie Renard was not only the greatest player in this European Championship semi-final, she was also identified as the most dangerous. At least when it came to successfully converting high crosses. And so the defense chief of Olympique Lyon appeared more and more in the German penalty area in the last minutes of the duel.
In vain. The French lost 2-1. The dream of Wembley, the longing for the title, it was gone. The balls of the colleagues always found their way to Renard. But the 32-year-old didn't have the precision that usually characterizes her on Wednesday evening. She had already scored an amazing 33 goals in 136 games for the national team. Another one just didn't happen. This is one of the reasons why France once again failed prematurely in a major tournament. The team went away empty-handed at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 World Cup, the 2013 and 2017 European Championships and the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Now the story of failure has one chapter richer.
This summer, everything was supposed to be completely different. Finally successful. Renard, the dominant player of the past decade, had announced before the duel with Germany: "The past is part of my history and also part of the selection. It's up to us to change that." The team did not fill the words of their leader with life. Although France played physically as usual, they were also unusually tense. It was only in the minutes after the break that coach Corinne Diacre's team showed the quality they possess as Germany struggled to avoid going behind thanks to a strong Merle Frohms. Renard ran, fought, orchestrated. But at the crucial moment she wasn't there. She of all people, the control tower (that's her nickname) was jumped over by Germany's captain Alexandra Popp in the 2-1 win.
The Germans knew that they could not completely remove the female from the game. But they did their very best to minimize their ability to develop in the header. And that worked out really well. Also because national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg had shown her team a clear plan. So the team knew exactly which way Renard goes with high crosses, as Popp explained after the hard-fought victory.
As great as the euphoria in the German team was, the evening ended bitterly for the 32-year-old. Perhaps she will go down in history as the uncrowned queen. At least at national team level. Because otherwise Renard has filled the pages in the football almanacs in abundance. She has won 15 championships, won nine cups and won the European Cup eight times. What a crass record. It just doesn't want to work out with France. Not yet. The next World Cup is coming up next year. Renard will certainly still be there. Even a year later, in 2024 at the home Olympics, she will play if she is not injured. Is the EM 2025 still an option? Who knows, Renard would be 35 by then. That's possible.
And her drive is great. huge. "We keep telling ourselves that dreams can come true," Renard said recently in an interview with UEFA. "We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into every season. If you start with nothing and end up with the title, there's no better feeling. That's my motivation and that's what I'm aiming for. I love competition and always , when I'm on the pitch I want to win. It doesn't matter what game it is, I want to win."
She developed this mentality at a young age. Against all odds, she made her way from her home country of Martinique to professional football. She had only received an invitation to a trial session at France's elite soccer school in Clairefontaine, and that alone was an ennobling. She was not accepted, but a little later Olympique Lyon got in touch. "It was fate," she once said about her engagement there. Lyon became the best team in Europe. Renard one of the best players on the continent. With only one flaw, the damn curse with France.
