Football is acquired differently from one player to another. For Julie Thibaud, it was done gradually, from his youngest. Today she is a full-fledged member of the Sojaldic workforce. We talked to her about the Soyaux club and her experience with the France U19 team, since her coronation with Les Bleuettes in 2016. Rencontre.

Hot, what can you tell us about your last meeting against PSG?

Julie Thibaud - I think that when we started the game, we were a little in trouble the first twenty minutes. Our coach told us to play low block, but in the middle [field] it was difficult to combine, they were more numerous than us, so we were caught every time. When our 10 [Pamela Babinga] came down, I think it was better. At half-time we had only one goal, so we thought it was possible [to come back]. After [in the second half] we organized better, I think, the red card [of Shirley Cruz] helped us a lot because we found ourselves in superiority, and in our game we were more at home. easy.


"It's a chance to play D1 at my age"


Despite the score you made a big game, you played hard and you're only 18 years old? I also saw that your first match in D1 in addition it was against the PSG (December 3, 2014), so it had to remember you memories, good or bad, compared to the U19?

J.T. - Because for me I always have to play the games thoroughly. It is a chance to play in D1 at my age, so suddenly, I do not ask questions, every time I try to give myself thoroughly for the team, to try to do something. In addition to the big teams, I think it's important to be aggressive enough in the engagement, to try to win [the duels] at least.
(laughs) Yes it was my first game in D1 [against PSG], after that it was a different context because it was in Charlety and it was in the week, so it was not really the real D1 team. But it was still good memories of playing against PSG.

I read that in an interview, you say that you did not follow anyone to do football, even if your brother and your dad practices it, it's a bit like that too, but you also say that "that you better "football. This is the gesture that asks the football, that you liked?

J.T. - Yes around me except my family, none of my friends played football. So I really followed my brother and my dad, because I was not playing with girls (laughs). Yes the contact with the boys, it went really well. After it's really football that I liked because we let off steam, we got along really well. Yes the atmosphere, I liked it, it's a team sport, to score goals, the joys when we win together ...

You like to score goals, but you play two different positions at the back of the game: defensive midfielder, or right side.

J.T. - (laughs) Yes, he makes me play especially defensively my coach [Nicolas Goursat] but after that I also play higher. It's rarer, before I played higher. But yes now (smile) I score a lot less goals, because he makes me play defense.

Even if you started at AS Echiré Saint Gelais, it's really in Soyaux where you will go upmarket? (She was also at the Sports Center of Tours.)

J.T. - In fact, Echiré I played, but at first it was for fun. It was especially when I came to Soyaux that football started to grow in my life and that I really started to focus on that.

So I also noticed one thing is that in the field and outside you are not at all the same. You're pretty sneaky on the ground, you're scared of anyone, but outside you're super smiling, you talk to us, journalists, and I know it's not always easy to pass this exercise?

J.T. - (laughs) Yes, after what happens on the ground, it's completely different from what's outside. There are a lot of players like that on the ground who are snarling, who want, and afterwards it's something else.

You are also the "muse" of the center-west with the Courrier who awarded you the prize of the sportswoman of the year in 2016. Is there really a pride in having young people like you?

J. - (laughs, embarrassed) heuu ... Yes, yes, because in Niort and the Deux-Sèvres there is not a lot of sports. Being a European Champion, they were proud of me, I think.

You are also a sponsor of a club or region for the promotion of women's football?

J.T. - No, I was godmother of a day promoting women's football last year, right next to Niort.

I saw that you passed a baccalaureate S, and that you integrated the IUT of mechanical engineering in Bordeaux?

J.T. - That's it, yes I'm studying in Bordeaux, so I go back and forth to go to train and take my classes.

Does not the fact of not necessarily play prestigious matches like the final of the U19 European Cup in 2016 on the one hand is frustrating, but for the coach (Gilles Eyquem) it is also for you preserve in your achievement? He explains a little?

J.T. - I think when we go to the Euro like that, he takes a group and he already has his team. But after that it's normal, it's to win. I am happy to have already played a game [against Slovakia, 6-0 win]. I knew by going there, knowing that I was one of the last to be taken, that I was not going to play every game. So for me it was just a bonus to go and play a game.

He does not really explain it to us, but we know that we have to play the typical team, and the victory is at the end. So playing, it was already good for me. We are young compared to other [players of this Euro there], so for us it makes us more experiences.

Do you join the U19 group just a few months before more? Since you are called in young selection.
J.T. - Yes it's since the internship in England (May 31 and June 2, 2016), where he called me for the Euro. Yes this year I was always in the team.

Since the U19 crown last summer, and except for Northern Ireland, I have seen that you had a hard time winning your matches. We have followed from a distance these matches and the results so we do not really have an eye or an opinion on this subject. What explains these results?

J.T. - Yes, yes no. I dunno. The change of generation sometimes is not easy, and it is true that there, to spend a year, like that of 97, [it is difficult] because it is really a strong generation. The year 98 it's true that it changes. After [tournaments] both in Ireland and the Manga, I think we need to be more determined, to play a high level match, and an international match to win and especially play together. After I think that we are a generation that can do something, we must be convinced of that and we all go in the same direction.

Here the next deadline in "Blue" is the Tour Elite from 4 to 12 April in the Netherlands. Do you feel expected compared to the previous year?

J.T. - Already the list has completely changed. Anyway we go to win. These are not friendly matches [as in Ireland or Manga] so we need qualification [to play Euro]. I think we'll be well prepared for Clairefontaine, because we have 4 days [of preparation] before going [to the Netherlands]. So we will be able to create our automatisms, to play together.

Yes [we are expected] because the Netherlands were with us at the Euro [in 2016] where we faced them [in the group phase], so I think they will wait for us. We do not have an easy hen [for this Tour Elite] with Portugal, Slovenia and the Netherlands, it's going to be tough.

To talk about your next confrontation, it is still facing a club in the Paris region, Juvisy. How do you apprehend this match?

J.T. - We for this match, we will be clearly determined because we know that this year Juvisy is not necessarily a good season and they look much more valuable than in previous years. So you have to put yourself in the head and physically to make the best match possible and try to worry a little. We play at home, so I think it's possible to do something.


Photo: Giovani Pablo & Nelson Fatagraf & Foot B'Elles

* Interview just after the PSG / Soyaux match 2-0