Chavaz stands tall for France in win over Germany

Friday’s quarterfinal between France and Germany saw Fifa’s match observers hand the Live Your Goals player-of-the-match award to a goalkeeper, France’s Mylene Chavas, pictured.
The fact that she is the first player in her position to pick up the award at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, after no fewer than 28 games, shows just how instrumental she was to her side’s narrow win.
“This is all new for me. I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m proud all the same,” Chavas said.
The fact is, though, that it was anything but a surprise that the accolade should go to her, even after Delphine Cascarino put herself in the running for a third individual award in four games with her wondrous match-winning strike after 15 minutes. Yet with Chavas achieving perfection behind her, helping to thwart the reigning champions at every turn, there can be no doubting that the award has gone to the right recipient.
Time and again Chavas was on hand to deny the Germans, with Anna Gerhardt, on two occasions, Saskia Matheis, Dina Orschmann and Rebecca Knaak all finding out for themselves just how good the keeper’s reflexes were. Her team-mates also testify to Chavas’ impressive ability to keep calm whenever the pressure was on, which was often the case in a tense game between two sides who know each other well.
“I’ve always been calm. I’m like that every day and that’s how I came to be a goalkeeper,” she said.
Coach Gilles Eyquem has made a point of encouraging her to impose herself. – Fifa.com