While there is no need for France to panic, this was still an unexpected result for the fifth-ranked team in the world and one of the tournament favorites.
By contrast Jamaica is ranked 43rd and entered the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand having lost all of its games at its World Cup debut in 2019 with a goal difference of -11.
“We always tell our players just don’t worry about the rankings,” said Jamaica coach Lorne Donaldson, who declared his country’s first point ever in the competition as its greatest achievement in soccer.
“I think it is the No. 1 result I have seen men or women,” he said. “I would put it there. If you go by the rankings you would say that result on this stage has to be No. 1.”
Jamaica’s players ran onto the field after the final whistle as if they’d been crowned world champions. It would have been a very different story had Kadidiatou Diani’s 90th-minute header not struck the bar.
In a game of few chances, Diani had France’s best opportunities to score a winner, but could not find a breakthrough at the Sydney Football Stadium.
She forced a save from Jamaica goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer in the first half and saw another effort deflected wide.
Another header in the second half also went wide of the target before her late effort came back off the bar.
The French were expected to be too strong for Jamaica, but favourites have not had everything their own way so far in the tournament. The 2019 quarterfinalists were the latest to struggle against an underdog.
Australia needed a penalty to get a 1-0 win against Ireland, while European champion England also needed a spot kick to overcome Haiti 1-0. Nigeria held Olympic champion Canada 0-0.
“The French are used to having the upper hand during the opening games, but this is something that is going to change because things are getting a lot closer,” Renard said. “We need to keep our heads up high and we need to keep our confidence high.”
Jamaica did well to disrupt a France team that struggled to put together fluid moves.
In one of France’s few moments of quality in the first half, Diani saw a low effort bundled around the post by Spencer. From the resulting corner, Wendie Renard headed over from close range.
Kadidiatou was fractions away from giving France a halftime lead when firing from the edge of the area. Chantelle Swaby managed to get something in the way of the shot, which deflected narrowly wide with the keeper beaten.
After seeing another header go wide after the break, Kadidiatou almost came up with the decisive moment when hitting the bar.
On an otherwise joyous night for Jamaica, it may come to regret the red card for star forward Khadija Shaw, who will be suspended for the next game.
WHAT’S NEXT
France plays Brazil in Brisbane on Saturday. Jamaica travels to Perth where it will face Panama.
Four years after France fell flat in the Women’s World Cup as the host country, Les Bleus return to the global stage with a new coach determined to dethrone the United States.
France hoped to contend for the 2019 tournament title but was eliminated by the Americans in the quarterfinals in Paris. The plan for a better result this year was nearly derailed in February when captain Wendie Renard quit the team “to protect my mental health” and two other players followed her exit.
The French federation vowed to look into the situation and in March fired coach Corinne Diacre with a year remaining on her contract. The team replaced her with Hervé Renard, who resigned as coach of Saudi Arabia’s men’s team to take the job.
Hervé Renard led Saudi Arabia to an upset over eventual winner Argentina in the men’s World Cup in November and, when he leads France against Jamaica on Sunday in a Group F match in Sydney, he will be just the second coach to manage at both the men’s and women’s World Cups.
Hervé Renard also previously coached Morocco’s men’s team.
His hiring prompted Wendie Renard to return to the team and she’ll be on the field for the first ever meeting between France and Jamaica in women’s international play. It is France’s fifth appearance in the tournament, and Jamaica’s second appearance.
Jamaica lost all three of its matches in its 2019 debut, scoring only once while giving up 12 goals. Its play in this World Cup will hinge on the performance of Khadija Shaw, a Manchester City striker who was one of only two players to score at least 20 goals in the English Women’s Super League from 2022-23.
Jamaica is one of many teams battling its federation over funding, and its players created a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for their preparations.
