In French football, the ASJ Soyaux is a bit of furniture. A longevity at the highest level for a club that retains its modesty by principle and face a reality where the D1 is now majority composed of women's sections of professional clubs. Yet after doing the elevator in the early 2010s, Soyaux has again installed in the middle of the table. An area that the players of Nicolas Goursat will aim again this year.

This summer, Nicolas Goursat took charge of the Soyaux women's team. In place of Juan Paredes, he "works jointly" with the former coach of Soyaux who retains sports functions within the club. An "evolution" for him and the club after two years dealing with the U19. A strategic position for a club where "training is ultra-important" and plays a strategic role in the ability of the first team to stay at the highest level.

Latest examples are Anna Clérac and Julie Thébaud, both recent U19 European champions with the France team. Two players who last year had already played more matches with the first team of Soyaux than with their comrades in U19. In total, they are seven players in the Soyaux squad to be from the Soldilla training, including some executives like Justine Deschamps or Captain Anaïs Dumont.

Anna Clérac and Julie Thibaud, the two U19 European Champions of ASJ Soyaux

A stable group with a common experience of D1
For Nicolas Goursat, these two players are part of a "hard core of a dozen players" who have acquired "the experience of high level" in a team he wanted to "keep the frame". If Soyaux saw the departure of Mélissa Godart who joined FC Metz, it is finally the only holder of last season to leave the Charente.

Another player in the season may not be competing in the upcoming season with Soyaux. This is the goalkeeper Amandine Guérin who suffers "cardiac abnormalities" and for whom the rest of the season or even his career is suspended at medical examinations whose results are expected by the end of September. For the moment, it is thus one of the summer recruits who will keep the goals of Soyaux. Romane Munich arrived this summer from Nancy and several times summoned these last months with the France B team.

Pamela Babinga, here in friendly against Rodez, is one of the summer rookies of the Charente club

In total, they are five players to have arrived at Soyaux this summer. Among them, Pamela Babinga who won the Military World Cup with Laura Bourgouin, top scorer of Soyaux last season. An association in attack that will necessarily follow this season. Elodie Nakkach, she left La Roche-sur-Yon, relegated to the second division, and comes to strengthen the Soyaux midfielder. The last two rookies, Makan Traoré and Madison Krauser from the USA, have versatile profiles, which may be suitable for the midfield or defense (right for Krauser, rather on the axis for Traore).

A staff complemented to hold all season
Nicolas Goursat says he is "satisfied with the recruitment" even if he would have "wished maybe more density on the defensive posts". For him the goal was "to expand [the workforce] in terms of quality but also quantity" to cope with "seasons increasingly difficult." He remembers the end of last season finished "on the kneecaps" (only one victory over the last 6 matches) and where "fortunately that the maintenance was assured".

Nicolas Goursat, now in charge of the first team of ASJ Soyaux after leading the U19

For the coming season, the maintenance will be on the first goal. Nicolas Goursat wants to "assure him (...) quickly". With the desire to be "lucid", the coach Soyaux speaks of any other ambition as a "bonus" that will come "if we do the job". At the end of the summer preparation, Nicolas Goursat feels "happy with the turn of things" including "recruits who have blended well in the group." He is also pleased to see that his youngest young players "work well", like Anna Clérac and Julie Thibaud "girls who have potential [and] who are smart." This intelligence, it is one of the keys to the "individual and collective progress" of these young players who according to Nicolas Goursat is one of the conditions to meet if Soyaux wants to look up. A way not to put the cart before the horse and say that the desire to ensure the essential is not the sign of a lack of ambition, quite the opposite ...