Between a moment of snack, just after the first success of the France U16 team against Sweden (Nordic Cup), we contacted Cécile Locatelli. The coach of Bleuettes since 2015, has evolved six years (1992 to 1998) in the tricolor jersey as a defender and has passed through FC Lyon before switching Olympique Lyonnais when she played. She confided in her position as trainer of the next generation Blue and about the elite of the French championship, which takes from year to year more scale. We could also evoke the Euro 2017, which awaits the France A team in the Netherlands (16 July - 8 August).


Football hearts - We were surprised to see that the French team finished last (8th) at your competition in Italy at Delle Nazioni. How do you explain it on your side? This is a disappointment anyway this tournament?
Cecile Locatelli - Yes it's a disappointment, it's true that this U16 team is used to good behavior. On this tournament there, there was a change of formula. We went to two pools of four teams, so that made us three games, plus the ranking match. With the last two games (Germany in pool, and Slovenia for the classification match), it was complicated for us, because we had not had a day of rest [between these last confrontations]. Knowing that on our last meeting against Slovenia (1-0 defeat), it was a team composed mainly of U17 players and it was very difficult to finish the tournament.

In addition to that, we had one or two physical glitches during the competition and even before starting it, when I made the selection. There were also some packages of players. My faith is the lot of a selection U16, which in terms of regularity on this challenge, has not been successful. After that it's also the youth a little bit who wants that. In spite of everything we also lacked efficiency, because the opportunities we had them, but we did not put them in the bottom. This is where the fishing selection. However, we have not lost by big scores.

If we resume the match this afternoon against Sweden (1-0 win), we must win more than that because we have real opportunities, but we have not materialized, and when we do not get there we are likely to be countered and to generate defeats, even short ones. So here we have not been effective on this tournament in Italy, compared to the offensive efficiency.


Football Hearts - It's hard to find the balance between the pleasure of taking on the players and instilling a certain rigor at that age on your side?

C.L. - Absolutely. The idea for us [the staff] is to continue on the training and to offer a fairly large pool to the France U17 team [coached by Sandrine Soubeyrand], who has it, competitions [major] and try as many players as possible to potential, to promote of course associations [between profiles]. To propose players to certain posts, to clear a little bit the field of this team of France U16, in particular with the Nordic Cup, which very quickly behind, from the month of September, connects an internship and the qualifications for the championship of Europe U17. So we have to work on a season and present a group that is competitive for the U17.

It's both the continuity of my work, that I do in pole because it allows to see also if the training that everybody makes in pole and in the clubs is powerful and that allows us to be at the international level . It also serves the girls to evaluate themselves individually in relation to other nations. I like the U16 team for that, because it allows me to continue my work as a trainer.


"International matches, it's worth all the gold in the world in terms of training"


Football Hearts - It's about not really roughing them up, because we know that girls react more emotionally than boys in football? This is something you take into account, which you must take into account?

C.L. - Yes, yes, do not rush them, of course, but they soon realize that the international level is demanding. Often we have girls who have clicks on it and who are maturing through selections. Frequently, we have feedback from colleagues from poles or clubs on this subject. It also takes steps [selection]. International matches are worth all the gold in the world in terms of training, so we must continue on this principle there and work in the continuity of what is done all year in clubs and poles.



"It's not about clubs that I identify the selection"


Football Hearts - We also have the impression that your team is really heterogeneous, you have players who come for the most part from different clubs. There is no hard core as we can see in the A and who makes cohesion sometimes complicated.C.L. - Yes, no but because everyone works well in training and that there are also sometimes girls who are mixed. In my group, for example, I have Clara Moreira, I had little Naomie Feller, unfortunately who is still injured. I have girls who come out of mixed and who not necessarily sign in major clubs, but who continue their training quietly. It's not about clubs that I identify [my choice for] the selection, it's about the value of the girls. That's it, they take the experiment and we try to bring them to maturity for the selection according to in any case.

Football Hearts - In an interview, you said when you made the transition from FC Lyon to OL, that "OL gives us the means to evolve". The means sometimes it's not enough or maybe we are not aware of the finances of some clubs, when we see the ASSE down in D2, unlike Albi for example that has remained, not displeasing to critics is it still incomprehensible? The lack of interest it broke the players of Saint-Etienne we have the impression.

C.L. - (Thinks) The transition from FC Lyon to OL, of course we had more resources and especially in terms of structuring and also in human terms, it is undeniable. Afterwards it is also the ideas of the men and women inside the project, which is important. But it is undeniable that when we have more resources, we work a little better. There is especially the project that is implemented behind, that there is a harmony between all that. There must be consistency. That's the meaning of my words.

ASSE is a club that I know well, it is a club that does very good work in terms of training. After that, they still have a structure that allows them to evolve, but now it is clear that the project should go to a second stage, perhaps so that they can evolve a little more serenely. I hope they will go up very quickly in D1, because I think that a team like Saint-Etienne, it is also compared to boys, a club that is full of values. But I still think that the club has done a lot for women's football, but it failed to pass the second stage of the project. Now you have to be patient and then rebuild little by little.


Hearts of Football - When we see Juvisy who will be bought according to some media as the Parisian by Paris FC, we say on one side that it becomes "finally" mandatory professionalization? Is it a way of "erasing some deficiencies" as you said, to move to professional status? Even for players that you train with the team of France U16 for example?

C.L. - It's not that it's "mandatory". For me it is a passage that will now become a little bit obliged because in terms of financial means, we know that if we want to compete with the best, it will project. Women's football has taken a direction towards professionalism with clubs like Montpellier, PSG, like Olympique Lyonnais. So we can be for, we can be against, everyone can have their opinion, except that women's football thanks to these great locomotives is developing. It is also developing because there are small clubs that work and are at the base [of the pyramid]. I think it's like everything, we need a balance between all these clubs, but in any case for the championship of D1, I think that now, yes it is necessary that the pro clubs take possession a little bit of the female sections and that it is well done. It's not all about scratching the old female sections of the map.

I think that, try to work like that with FC Lyon and Olympique Lyonnais, just like Bordeaux and Blanquefort, we must do things intelligently, do not oust the old staffs, the old leaders but rather the incorporate, bring them into a coherent project. But I think financially now if the Women's Football still wants to evolve and I tell you in the direction it took, it is inevitable. Finally I do not see how we can go back. Afterwards things have to be done intelligently, because everyone has to be there, to have a strong elite and to be well represented on the European scene.


Football Hearts - Because even for players you train in France U16 team as you told us, it can only be prolific for them, it will stabilize them in their training, give them a frame?
C.L. - Yes yes yes, after inside the clubs, projects for young people must be as coherent, monitored, adapted and not dazzled. We need teams of coaches, mentors, who are also in touch with reality and who are also very trainers, so that young people can take the time to mature in their category, before grilling steps.


Hearts of Football - To talk about U16, this Sunday you face Iceland and Tuesday Finland. Do we already have an idea about these two teams in your staff, or is it still difficult to get your opinion in this age group?

C.L. - Then it's always [complicated] (shortness of breath). It is true that it is less easy than in the other categories, because we do not have many elements of "analyzes". But there are some selections, which have U15 categories, so we get to have some information. But it's true that from one year to the next, when we are used to playing against certain nations, we know the styles of play. And when we arrive on the Nordic Cup it's a little easier, because most teams play in UEFA tournaments, and they are filmed, so we get to recover images, sequences where we manage to see anyway. Like this Friday against Sweden, we could work on videos, we could see the strong points, the weak points, the set pieces ... I would say now that we advance and that the Federation under the impetus of Sandrine Soubeyrand who took the responsibility of national selections of young women, frankly we have been implementing for some time a lot of monitoring work on all selections U16 / 17/18/19. It's going well (smile).


"When we participate in a competition it is to win it"


Football Hearts - Last year (2017) in Denmark, you finished third. I also learned that it had been three years since you had not participated in this tournament, the Nordic Cup, if I'm not mistaken? So there you have more ambition than last year I guess, but it will be complicated anyway?

C.L. - Yes definitely [and we finished third in 2017].
Last year, we ended up tied in the pool with Norway and it is she who passed the goal difference to play the final against Germany. We played, third place against the Netherlands. We had a good tournament, a very good season with this team U16. This year, the team may have a little less individuality, but in terms of collective it responds well. After us when we participate in a competition it is to win it, but there are many parameters that come into play. The Nordic Cup, apart from the guests who are Germany and the Netherlands, there are only Scandinavian teams, who attacked [their season] not long ago so they are a little cooler than us, because we are at the end of the season, even if they had an individual program .. But the ambition in any case is yes to win this tournament. Above all to continue working, to deliver this U16 team next year to Sandrine Soubeyrand in a good working order and with as many combinations as possible, possible answers to be the best performer in U17.


Football Hearts - Do you want to create automatisms and pairs in fact with the U16?
C.L. - Absolutely. We insist on the principles of the game so that they arrive in U17 with assets and that they only have to fit in the mold of the team, roughly. This is also the training, it is to teach them a variety of things so that they can adapt to each system of play. We are lucky with the team of France U16 to be able to manipulate the team a little easier and more widely than when you are in official competition. Our role also is to be able to get them started at least once to see how they react as a licensee, and as a substitute as well. It's different but in any case on the Nordic Cup, we also get harder in terms of coaching, so that they can understand that from the month of September, it will be a level of demand even higher, so that they can be called in U17.

"[Les Bleues have] the experience to get a result"


Hearts of Football - My last question, it concerns the Blue, we can not not ask you. Are you going to comment on the Euro this summer? How do you feel about this France A team?

C.L. - (laughs) Then no I will not comment because I'm in the staff of A [with Olivier Echouafni] so I could not comment with Eurosport.
I feel very good, it's a group that lives well. I feel happy girls to come in selection and very demanding in any case, very receptive. Everything is set up to make a good performance on this Euro. Now, as I said earlier, we will have to be effective in all that we will undertake and in all that will be offensive, because here is a team that sometimes has a hard time being decisive in key moments. That's what we need to work on, but in any case I think that sincerely this team has its qualities, the mind, the experience to achieve a result. In any case, I have had the chance to comment on several international competitions, it happens that this team is scary, people do not understand why it does not win, because I really think there are all the qualities for get there. So I hope we will find the right formula this time to win a title.


Hearts of Football - Yes because it has often been criticized that it lacked the mind to the Blue, today we can say that it is in good shape, it is rather the fast game and perhaps the game in one bullet touch that is still missing? These are two points that we have seen wonderfully against the United States, with a 3-0 win and the title of champion of the She Believes Cup for the second edition of the tournament. It's really the match that dazzled all the fans.

C.L. - Yes, yes. No, but I think that these are girls who have the capacity, in terms of individual and collective potential. The score against the United States, reflects it, they are capable of full of things. Now you have to come to an official competition, which is harder, to reiterate [this result of the She Believes Cup]. But I think that all the preparation tends to that, and since Olivier Echouafni took the lead of the team, it is ramping up. While there have been matches, a little less intense where he has done tests, but it is normal that he wants to see a little bit what everyone has in the stomach. I think we are in a coherent preparation and we know that when the girls were found they had fun to gather together, in France team. There is a very good atmosphere in the group. There may be some clicks, some games like the one against the United States, which will be able to compete, in any case I hope it wholeheartedly.