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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;France began its World Cup campaign earlier this week with a 1-0 win over England amidst soggy conditions at Moncton Stadium. It wasn\u2019t the prettiest of games. Both teams exhibited less-than-ideal performances on the pitch, but a victory is three points closer to progressing out of the group stage of play for one of the tournament\u2019s favorites to go the distance. As &lt;em&gt;Les Bleues &lt;/em&gt; forward Eug\u00E9nie Le Sommer told the press afterwards, the victory \u201Cis good for confidence.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And confidence is something that typically dogs French teams, at least, on the men\u2019s side. When confidence is high and team spirit transcends the locker room, things go well. When it doesn\u2019t, well\u2026\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thankfully, &lt;em&gt;Les Bleues &lt;/em&gt;are a different breed. It is a team chock-a-block with seasoned veterans and several rising talents. Moreover, there is a veritable &lt;em&gt;\u00E9sprit de corps &lt;/em&gt;on and off the field. There are several compelling narratives driving France at this tournament. What should you know about France this summer? Here are five things:\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;1. There is an #objectifcanada in French quarters to prove to themselves\u2014and the rest of us\u2014that they have what it takes to make it all the way to the final. French Football Federation (FFF)\u2019s Secretary General and former player, Brigitte Henriques, spoke with me for the &lt;em&gt;New Yorker&lt;/em&gt; and elaborated on how \u201CFrench Women Are Taking Over Soccer.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;2.&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;Les Bleues &lt;/em&gt; on Twitter. Most of the players on the team has very active accounts that they use in different ways. How do they portray themselves to the public? Whom do they support? How does the public seem to interact with them? As recently as the 1980s and 1990s, French players encountered long-held stereotypes about girls and women who play football. How are they personally managing\u2014and changing\u2014these notions via social media?\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A glimpse of this can be viewed in &lt;em&gt;Surface Magazine\u2019s special edition, \u201CWomen\u2019s Issue&lt;/em&gt;.\u201D\r\n\r\n\r\n\t&lt;strong&gt;ELSEY: Brazil playing for respect, glory on the home and world stages&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;3. The key players: of which there are many. Le Sommer, who was voted best player in France\u2019s female Ligue 1 this season, has already proved her mettle on the pitch with her goal against England, but there are others to watch. In goal, Sarah Bouhaddi is the first line of defense, a position she is taking up after missing the 2011 World Cup.\r\n\r\n\r\n\t&lt;strong&gt;WATCH: Five best goals in Women's World Cup's opening week&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Defender Laure Boulleau of PSG is one of the players most heavily covered by the media, but others have credentials as ones-to-follow, such as her fellow PSG teammate (and captain) defender Sabrina Delannoy; the EDF (&lt;em&gt;\u00E9quipe national de France&lt;/em&gt; captain Wendi Renard; the rare player who has played in the United States, Camille Abily; and Amadine Henry\u200B. Then there are Jessica Houara-D\u2019Hommeaux, another defender from PSG; forward Gaetane Thiney and midfielder Louisa Necib.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u200B\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;4. Media coverage of France, both at home and in the Anglophone press, and how it reflects or shapes public opinion of the team. Thus far, major media outlets, whether in the traditional news press such as &lt;em&gt;Le Monde&lt;/em&gt; or the sports press (&lt;em&gt;L\u2019\u00C9quipe&lt;/em&gt;) are devoting resources and column inches (or online space) to &lt;em&gt;Les Bleues&lt;/em&gt;. How will it continue or change as the tournament progresses?\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;5. Fear of what other shoes will drop in the unfolding FIFA investigations, and how that might impact\u2014or not\u2014the women\u2019s tournament. The stakes are even higher as France will host the 2019 tournament. There is much less money involved in the women\u2019s game, for better or worse, so perhaps it will remain untouched. Still, as everyone waits with baited breath, there's an aura of uneasiness surrounding the competition.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I spoke with George Eddy, a French-American journalist for Canal+, earlier this year about French basketball and the impact of &lt;em&gt;Les Bleues &lt;/em&gt;in Canada on the nation\u2019s &lt;em&gt;\u00E9lan&lt;/em&gt;. The year was baptized by fire with the January Charlie Hebdo attacks. Tragedy for the &lt;em&gt;hexagone&lt;/em&gt; quickly followed in March when several Olympians died in an Argentine helicopter crash.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For Eddy, the \u201Cexcellent results\u201D achieved in recent years by the women\u2019s football team and the men\u2019s basketball team \u201Cgives the French population a chance to be positive about something.\u201D That can be a good thing. A strong run at the World Cup this summer could help improve the national mood and, as Eddy noted, \u201Csmile about something French.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff is a historian and the author of \u201CThe Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France, 1958-2010.\u201D Her work has appeared in The New Yorker and The New Republic. She can be followed on Twitter @lempika7.&lt;/em&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/06/12/france-womens-world-cup-les-bleues>