From Roanne to Saint-Étienne, Audrey Chaumette crossed much more than the few tens of kilometers that separate the two cities. Best goalkeeper Stephane this season (6 goals), she also went through some events before making her place as holder in D1 with ASSE. Passed by U17 / U19 youth selections, or in France B and University team, it is a player at home as well on the field, as outside at just 20 years old. A player to discover.

So first of all I would like to come back on your achievement of Coupe de France against Montpellier? It's beautiful your goal, did you watch the Barça match before you had worked this web?
Audrey Chaumette: First of all in the context we were coming out of a very complicated match against Albi. With a defeat that made us very bad mentally. So the speech of the coach and the cloakroom was quickly to remobilize after this disillusionment and especially not to enter a negative spiral and rebound. From there we moved back to try to do something. After we knew that it would be very complicated, but we wanted to play with our strengths and find what makes us a good team since the beginning of the championship. After the particularity I would say Saint-Etienne is that we are a team that likes to play in the Cup, which may have had a good history in the past so it's something we wanted to reiterate because the Most of the group has already had some good things to do with the Cup so we did not want to stop there [at quarterback] and that was an extra motivation I think. After we made a very solid match with a lot of determination and I think that's what made the difference.
(laughs) No, not even (laughs) Yes the priority was when the ball was lost to squeeze very hard and very high to get the ball back as fast as possible and closer to the opposing cage. And behind we try to get out of the density and to project in the axis of Montpellier which was according to our staff the weakest point of the team. So we tried to exploit that and it worked, so much the better.

When you said that the club had already made good career in the Cup, you probably spoke of 2013, where you had played against PSG, which you managed to pass (2-0), since you score (second goal Candice Gherbi ) and you reach the final against OL. There you will repeat this year, how does it look?
A.C. - Yes, in particular. Well already personally it was the moment for the moment, the strongest in my career so yes inevitably we want to relive it as often as possible.
Yes after there has been an evolution of the two teams, especially on the side of the PSG which has grown enormously since then it is a new dimension. It's going to be totally different because it's not at all the same adversity in the face (shortness of breath) and it's going to be a different game [against PSG] but it's true that we keep in mind this feat could realize.

So I saw that you started in clubs in your area, before going a little further to Saint-Etienne in U19? Cecile Locatelli who a little pointed, when you were at the pole hope to go upmarket to evolve?

AC - Yes, I was in Roanne at the Riorges club and when I was going to high school I went to the Pôle Espoirs in Vaulx-en-Velin and it's true that Cecile advised me to join bigger club. So I made the choice to go to Saint-Etienne.

We saw that you were injured when you were younger, (fractured collarbone twice a month apart with five months off), it's still hard times for a player. How did you keep your head in your head, were you supported by your family, players in particular?

A.C. - It's true that I was still young enough when it happened to me. I made my comeback in second and Pole Espoirs also so it's true that arriving in a structure like this and being injured without being able to train with the best players in his region, it's complicated. It's something that's hard to manage but especially this structure [the Pole Espoirs] helped me, in the sense that I could have specialists around me, as sophrologists. I was surrounded by physios too so it allowed me to come back faster. After yes my family was very present for me, especially my mother who helped me to stay in quotation marks in my head. And I knew very well in my head that it was not inevitable, that I still had a lot of time to come back and to prove what I knew how to do. After that, I've always had close friends since I was young and I still care now, like Sarah Boudaoud with whom I was at Pole Espoirs and also Candice Gherbi with whom I am in club, who is a very good friend and who also helped me to pick up on certain things.

"It has not always been a pleasure"

You play at the base point, and you had to adapt as you said to another position that middle left / right?

A.C. - Yes, especially last year, where I practically did a whole middle-left season. So it was a post I had never really played before. In fact, it started from a match against Albi where I was a substitute, there was 0-0 at half-time and it's true that we had a little trouble making the difference. The coach decided to get me back at half-time in the middle left. From there, since I had done a good game and had won 3-0, where I scored a goal, I think the coach was satisfied with my performance and there was nobody, who was really Holder at this post there so in quotation marks I took this acting position during this season. It was not always a pleasure because it was not necessarily my qualities, but I did it because it was the choice of the coach, he trusted me to play this position there giving me play time so it was still good for me. It also allowed me to acquire new skills and develop my football.

"We are in the mood to make a big end of the season"

There you are at a place in the red zone, even if last year you would have been there since it was three clubs coming down but it looks like it does not touch us to have this sword of damocles over the head ?

A.C. - It's been a while since we're often at the limit, flirting with the relegation zone. I would not say we are used to it but it is not new to us. After what is frustrating is that our goal was higher. It was to finish 4th or 5th of the championship. [Today] we are not necessarily in our place. The ranking is not revealing because we have two games late so we will try to go up places. It is in the optics to make a big end of season so we hope with all the heart with the team to not finish in the 10th place as it is currently.

You do not have the dates of your two games too late (Soyaux and Metz)?

A.C. - Yes the coach gave us yesterday, it will be April 9 for Soyaux and the 30 against Metz at home. They are direct competitors so taking points against them is necessarily beneficial for us.

We know very well that in a career as a player there are a lot of sacrifices to make, which do not necessarily pay in the sense of the game time or selection team France, beyond the salary I mean, like you have joined Saint-Etienne in 2011, it was the club of D1 we will say the closest with Lyon?

A.C. - Yes, that's it. It was the most "convenient" for trips between the Pole, which was in Lyon, my parents who were in Roanne and my club which was therefore in Saint-Etienne. It was the good compromise with a club that has a good level, a pro structure behind.

You have six goals since the beginning of the season, what makes you the best scorer Saint Etienne, it is a good satisfaction for your trust in you?

A.C. - Bahh it's something "new" because yes it's the first time I score so much in a season, well it's not over and I hope I'll be able to put more. But yes it's nice. After me what I want above all, it is especially a good ranking and if I can help by my goals to gain points, matches, all the better.

With your rivalry against Lyon, especially among boys we will say, it seems that you are a little in their shadow because they take all the regional media. Is it sometimes frustrating to have less media appeal around you?

A.C. - At the sporting level we can not compete yet because it is a professional structure whereas we are that amateur so I think for the moment whatever it does, which is totally normal. They play the Champions League and the leading role in all competitions so it is legitimate that they are much more publicized than us. After I hope that it will develop for us and that we will be able to try to catch up a little bit the delay that we have for now on them and offer maybe closer confrontations. And why not here the Rhones Alpes region is more put forward by the two clubs.

If you have to remember a reference game this season, what would it be? The victory against Juvisy 2-0?

A.C. - A match reference? I have two in mind, it is the one against Juvisy that we win 2-0 (she will score a goal, just like Maelle Garbino) and the last match Cup against Montpellier. These are two games that are "similar" because we put the same ingredients to win. These are two matches references I think for us and should be reproduced as often as possible to play higher.

J'ai vu aussi que tu étais à l'IUT, tu en es où dans tes études ?

A.C. - So I do a DUT Marketing Technique, I do it in three years because it was too complicated and too heavy in terms of work to do otherwise with football. So I'm in my third year, so if everything goes well at the end of the year, I should validate my DUT. After for the rest, it's still a little vague, I do not really know what I'm going to do next year. It depends on the club and if I can continue my studies at a distance, because there is not the "pro quality license" that I want to do in Saint-Etienne.

The season that may have been the most intense for you is 2013/2014, where you join the U19 in the national team, while playing in D1. It was difficult for you because you had not made any selections, that courses in France U17 young team before the U19?

A.C. - Yes it was my first selection [in France U19 team]. That's it yes, I had never been retained in a list [in U17] for a big competition. I arrived for qualifying in the European Championship [U19]. The advantage I could have is that I already knew girls, which were in the list, so my integration was more "simple". I did not encounter any particular difficulties because of not having been selected before.

Indeed, you did some training in U17 with Guy Ferrier. You are from the Toletti, Lavogez, Karchaoui, Léger generation ... in relation to their career, did you know that you were a little late? That's why you were not selected for the European Cup? This is also the case in the national university team?

A.C. - Yes it is true that with the staff of Guy Ferrier, I had never been retained and once it was Gilles Eyquem who passed coach, he gave me my chance. After [for the European Cup in 2013], I had complications, I got sick, I should have done the Elite Tour but I could not because I was not 100% my abilities to meet the expectations of the coach, so I told him.

In university, I was selected last year for a tournament in Germany and there was no major competition the summer that followed. It's this year that there will be the World Cup so we'll see.

"It has nothing to do with playing boys or playing with girls."

You say in an interview that "It forges the character of playing with boys" is something that must be kept gender diversity in women's / men's football? Because even boys learn girls no matter what?

A.C. - (laughs) ... I am quite divided, in a sense where it has nothing to do with playing boys or playing with girls. I think it can be an advantage to play with the boys precisely to build a stronger character but I think it would be good on the one hand to have teams composed of girls only, like that, it would show that football women is developing and there are enough girls to be able to make a complete team.

I saw that you had a good game of foot, right or left, that you liked to hit, be back to the game, play in the depth, be passeuse or scorer, you have a style of your own? How do you like to play? What are your strengths?

A.C. - Yes, as you said, I like to play back, not necessarily for myself. I am sometimes accused of being too selfless [not to try in front of the goal] but yes what I like is the collective game, play together to score. (laughs) It's nice to tell me that I have a good left foot (laughs), I do not find so much. It would be a good thing to improve in my opinion, with my head game and my speed. After yes my strength, it's mostly my strokes wound law, that I particularly like to do, I train a lot on it.

When you have some points to improve, do you share them with the staff or is there a training to follow?

A.C. - At the end of the week, we have specific classes where we "work" what we want. Me in front of the goal, I will especially ask to work on centers in withdrawal, on strikes in motion, it depends.

Good as I told you, I contacted one of your best friends, Sarah Boudaoud with whom you played in Pole Espoirs to have his opinion on your game. That's what she said: "In the field I would say always very focused and alert to every opportunity it always impressed me when we played together at the Pole.Out outside, it's one of the funniest girls I know I know.She gets to make me laugh in situations where I really would have to stand and with her angelic face she always does well Yes she is still my best friend since we met at the pole She is really strong in her movements, and as being a pivot, a little at the Giroud. " How do you take it then? She says stuff we do not necessarily know there.

A.C. - (laughs) Yes I'm fine (laughs) No, it's rather flattering anyway. Yes, of course, yes [you can not know everything]. Yes that's right [what she says about me] (laughs). [Giroud] A player that I like? Yes it's ok, it's still an attacker, a fox surfaces. [My favorite player] I would say it's Suarez.

You juggle a bit between the France B team and the university, a goal is perhaps to be called for Taipei as you told us? At 20 years we still have a little time we will say, so the A is perhaps also one of your long-term goals?

A.C. - Yes because I think I have the chance to meet Télénie Sissoko and Rose Lavaud who have been able to live it. It is true that they told me that good and that it was a huge experience to live. So obviously beyond the football aspect of course, play a World Cup everyone wants to do it, to have this enriching side, this human side.

I joined the group of D1 at the age of 16, so inevitably I rubbed fast players with many experiences. I think it took part as well as the Pôle Espoirs. All that, it makes you grow faster.

Honestly not for now [A] because there are still a lot of players in front of me. My goal is really the academic, and why not have some selections in B, it would already be very good I think. Then install myself as a titular holder with Saint-Etienne. That's how I could apply for a place in A.

Would you see yourself going to another league to progress?
A.C. - Why not yes [another championship] is an interesting possibility. After my goal is to have a degree, before thinking of going elsewhere. I like England, I think it can be a great opportunity with a league that progresses very quickly, with good teams.

Our last question is about your next game this weekend against Juvisy. This is a meeting that you must apprehend after your 2-0 victory in the first leg, without necessarily having fears?

A.C. - This is a game that will be very important because in the first leg, we managed to do a very good performance so I think it will be more complicated for the second leg because they are waiting for us even more. So we will have to re-edit the scenario that we have achieved and raise our level even more, because they will really want to show that it was a bad step. So it will be more complicated than the first leg [home] but we will not let go.

Photo: Mica GB M PhootoRafettes