Kenza Dali: “I will tell my story after the euros. Many lies have been told '| France Women's Football Team

“I had difficult times and this team really made me my love and my motivation for football,” explains Kenza Dali about San Diego Wave as she is preparing to open on a turbulent year.

During a refreshing and honest conversation, the midfielder reveals why she left Aston Villa to move to the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in January, explains why she likes to work under Jonas Eidevall and discusses, for the first time, the sorrow that affected her participation in the Olympics. However, there is a subject on which she is not yet quite ready to go into details.

The 33 -year -old man, who has 76 caps for France, was one of the three experienced stars – alongside former Captain Wendie Renard and Eugénie Le Sommer – left aside when head coach Laurent Bonadei appointed his team for the European championship. Dali is clearly saddened by the situation but does not want a war of words to distract his compatriots while they are preparing for the tournament. “I will tell my side of the story after the euros, for a single reason – it is because I have too much respect for my teammates to highlight a difficult decision to accept because I think there are a lot of lies,” she said.

“I really hope they are doing well. I have too much respect for the jersey to turn off my side of the story now. I know it will be everywhere and they prepare for the euros and I don't want to disturb him. But it's difficult for me because I may have played some of my best football. I'm really going to digest after the euros.”

Dali has good reasons to feel proud of its form since its move to California. She was a key player for San Diego this season, helping them at the start of theft. The wave is second in the table, a great improvement in their 10th place the mandate, under the supervision of the former director of Arsenal, Eidevall, who was appointed head coach in January.

“When I signed for San Diego, many people thought I was crazy,” she said. “They were like:” They had a terrible season last season, the environment is not great “… I heard a lot. But I am someone who wants to see with my own eyes and the work of people behind the scenes was incredible. The recruitment was also really very good, and Jonas's appointment was also a massive difference.

“The funny part is that I heard a lot about Jonas in England and not always beautiful things. When I joined San Diego, people were like:” What is she doing? She's going with Jonas! “But I really appreciate the way he works.

Dali continues to express how much she takes advantage of the coffee near the beach along the Pacific coast after her spells in England with West Ham, Everton and Villa. Her mood is good, which contrasts last summer when she competed during the Olympic games at home feeling upset as a result of family mourning.

“I lost someone who was really close, really close, a member of my family,” reveals Dali, who scored in France's victory in the group phase against Colombia in Lyon to help them reach the quarter -finals.

“I don't want to say who, but it really affected me personally. The Olympic Games were really, really difficult for me because this person was all my national team matches.

“I didn't want to play the Olympic Games because I was in mourning and it happened two weeks ago. My teammates convinced me to stay, Hervé Renard [France’s coach at the time] was incredible for me. I ate with the team and I participated in the training and meetings, then I was going to see my family. The Olympic Games were therefore really difficult. »»

And then she returned to her club. “After the Olympic Games, I had free time, because of my situation, then I arrived at Villa. I was really happy to come back but the new manager [Robert de Pauw] I didn't want myself there, ”she says.

“I still don't know the reason, but he clearly said he didn't want me there. So I said to myself: “Wow, it's a shock”, because I was really looking forward to [returning to] Villa.

“I waited for winter. Then they changed the manager again [to Natalia Arroyo after Shaun Goater had briefly been in charge on an interim basis] And my contract was until the end of June, so I went directly to the club and I said that I stayed even if the offer from San Diego was massive [because]For me, Villa was at home. But I didn't think the club wanted me to stay. They didn't make me feel that I was a priority.

“San Diego really put everything so that I come and, after all that happened for me, I really wanted to be in an environment that I was appreciated,” added Dali. “It is a completely honest answer that I have never shared, that's what happened. Jonas really wanted me. He explained his game plan for me and where he saw me in his system, and he convinced me. I had other offers but I chose San Diego. I am happy to have done it because I appreciate my football again.

Dali, who helped France reach the Euro 2022 semi-finals, not only appreciates playing for San Diego, but, more broadly, to play in the NWSL: “The massive difference is the fact that each team plays for a title,” she said.

“In England, you start the league thinking:” I'm going to do my best to finish the five top five. The first four never change.

“When I start a competition, I want to win as many games as possible,” she adds. “I would prefer to lose 5-0 but [know I] Try only to park the bus and to concede three. This is not my vision of football.

“Our first objective here was to qualify for the playoffs but, as a group, we want much more. We are going in a way step by step. It is a completely new team. With 11 new players or more, what we are doing at the moment is incredible. I think we have the team to compete for something big.”