Renard says France team spirit 'perfect' after turmoil

MELBOURNE : Few coaches have the honour of guiding a team at a soccer World Cup. Herve Renard will do it twice in a year.

The much-travelled manager is set to steer the French women's team in the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand less than eight months after being in charge of Saudi Arabia at the men's World Cup in Qatar.

Renard's global profile soared when the Saudi Arabians pulled off the unthinkable, a comeback 2-1 win over eventual champions Argentina in their Qatar opener.

The French soccer federation will hope he can pull off another miracle by turning a squad that revolted against his predecessor, Corinne Diacre, into world champions at short order.

He has had barely three months in the role but the results have been positive, with a recent 3-0 win over Ireland in Dublin following victories over Colombia and Olympic champions Canada.

With 10 days before France's opening match against Jamaica, Renard has little time to look back but says his team have been "perfect" with their work ethic and attitude.

"To be honest with you, when I first came I didn't ask a lot of questions because it was not under my responsibility," he told reporters in Melbourne on the eve of France's World Cup warmup against Australia on Thursday.

"It's always easy to judge from outside. But the most important is to start together on the right way.

"All the coaches they have a different philosophy on the field, outside of the field. My philosophy is clear - it's we can't win anything without a very good team spirit."

Diacre's final years in charge of Les Bleues were tumultuous, with senior players frozen out and others complaining publicly about her management style.

After an internal review by the French federation found an