Delie at the double as France down Finland

France arrested a sequence of seven straight draws by overwhelming Finland 3-0 in a friendly match in Valenciennes.

Bruno Bini's charges had failed to win since a 5-0 success against Scotland on 19 September 2012 and performed with rigorous determination to set the record straight. Finland, meanwhile, had suffered two defeats on the bounce, and were on course for a third when Marie-Laure Delie turned in Gaëtane Thiney’s clever cutback after 32 minutes.

Les Bleues doubled their advantage five minutes later, as Thiney turned goalscorer by collecting Minna Meriluoto's clearance and executing a venomous shot that left the visiting goalkeeper with no chance. Montpellier Hérault SC's Delie then rubber-stamped a fine performance, sumptuously heading in Élise Bussaglia's centre.

Finland coach Andrée Jeglertz said: "We were looking for some experience, some of our players have never played in front of a crowd of 11,000 spectators. Furthermore we faced a team aimiing for the championship in Women’s EURO. France were better than us, we cannot complain about the result. We saw once again where we stand at the moment and what we have to do better in the finals.”
 
Defender Katri Nokso-Koivisto added: "We made a couple of mistakes and France made us to pay for them. Despite the three goals our defence was well organised most of the time. We still have six weeks to go and I think we can carry on from this with confidence. France are a fantastic team, but from time to time we put them under pressure."

France coach Bini confirmed his finals squad on Friday, with the 18 players involved today added to by Karima Benameur, Julie Soyer, Camille Catala, Sandrine Brétigny and Laetitia Tonazzi. They have further home friendlies against Norway on 29 June and Australia a week later while Finland next welcome Switzerland on 19 June.