The banner hangs just beneath the central staircase of the elegant hotel that has been taken over by the France women’s national team for the World Cup. The motivational words emblazoned across it are typical of the type of positive messaging teams rally around before major sporting tournaments. But for this French squad, and for Renard, its well-traveled coach, the words carry extra significance after a period many on the team would prefer to forget. “Only team spirit,” it reads, “can make you realize your dreams.”Renard used the phrase the first time he met the French squad earlier this year, only months before the World Cup. “We were missing unity," Renard said in an interview on a sunny terrace in front of the team’s base camp last week.

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Persons: Hervé Renard, Renard, “, ” Renard, Corinne Diacre Organizations: France women’s