The reserve team of the Racing women, evolving in R1, finished 2nd in the final of the Challenge National Féminin de Futsal. Back on their journey.
This weekend, the women’s team R1, coached by Gabriel Kopciuch, went to Pont Sainte Maxence to participate in the final of the first edition of the Challenge National Féminin de Futsal, a great opportunity to show their talent and perseverance.
Back on their journey with the coach Gabriel Kopciuch:
“We started this competition in January. We initially signed up to fill the two-month winter break. We never had the opportunity to train in futsal and we didn’t set any goals at the beginning. We played one game after the other to get to the 1st “Final Four” in Colmar. After beating Blenod in the semi-final and Musau in the final, we won the Grand Est Cup, which allowed us to be in the last 16 teams in France. Afterwards, 4 mini championships were organized in 4 different regions to define the last “Final Four”.
We found ourselves in Evry facing teams coming exclusively from futsal: Furiani (Corsican team which could not move because of the bad weather, Diamant Futsal and Bondy). We beat Diamant Futsal and Bondy respectively 5-0 and 5-1. We told ourselves at that time that there was a card to play, and believed in our chances to create a nice surprise.
That’s how we found ourselves in Pont Sainte Maxence to play the semi-final against Béthune, a team from futsal, which we beat 7-2. We then met Nantes Métropole in the final, the reference team of futsal, winner of the Women’s Futsal Champions League in 2022, and who won the most important tournaments in France over the last two years. The objective was to simply join the event, to have fun, to enjoy the moment, not to get confused and to stay in line with our previous matches. We entered the game well, and were lucky enough to score first. But Nantes was well in place, with a very compact block which made us difficult. We didn’t manage to touch the heart of the game, and were more and more on the back foot. Nantes ended up equalizing and then scored the 2-1 with 20 seconds to go before half-time. The second half was more complicated. Nantes had individualities that can make big differences in the 1v1. The game was more fluid, the transmissions faster, more precise. We paid for each mistake and conceded 3 goals in 7 minutes. Despite everything, the players did not give up and fought on every ball until the end.
We finally finished vice champions of France! We are disappointed not to have brought back the title in Alsace, but we are lucid on the difference of level between the two teams. Congratulations to the beautiful team of Nantes. I am very proud of the players, of the course and of the state of mind of each one. Thank you to them for their commitment, their abnegation and their tenacity.
A big thank you also to the club which has done everything possible to make this adventure happen as well as possible. Thanks to all the people who followed the adventure and encouraged us.
We will soon have to get back into action as we have a great game to play in Troyes on Monday, April 10 in the quarterfinals of the Grand Est Cup.“
The journey:
Final Four Coupe Grand Est
Strasbourg-Blénod: 6-1
Strasbourg-Strasbourg Musau: 6-2
Final Four Qualifications
Strasbourg-Diamant Futsal: 5-0
Strasbourg-Bondy: 5-1
National Women’s Futsal Challenge Final
Strasbourg-Béthune: 7-2
Strasbourg-Nantes Métropole Futsal: 1-5
