During the summer of 1998, it was impossible to miss the surge of the title “I Will Survive”. This piece of Gloria Gaynor, remixed by the Dutch group Hermes House Band, invaded the entire France following the triumph of the French team at the World Cup.
At first, this song had already had some success. Indeed, it was the official anthem of the Stade Français Rugby. Then, Vincent Candela will introduce him into the locker room of Aimé Jacquet, giving him an incredible impact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDDYDMWL5ZU
“With each training, we do the 'Toro', this little game where the person who loses the ball must go to the middle. As I was quite gifted from a technical point of view, I never found myself in the center and I made fun of the player who finished in the middle, for example singing I will survive. After our first match in this World Cup, when we won in Marseille, we started singing this song in the locker room. Laaa-lala-la-laaa… ”remembered the tricolor international (40 selections) during an interview given to the FIFA site in October 2022.
Candela, initiator of the hymn of the Blues
And the former AS Roma player to continue: “For us, the replacements were a way to make a group and create the union within the team. We had an incredible bench, with Pirès, Trezeguet, Henry, Vieira. Practically a second national team. Two years later, in full preparation for Euro 2000, Gloria Gaynor came to Clairefontaine to offer me the gold record, because I had relaunched the song worldwide. “
During the 1998 World Cup, Vincent Candela was the lining of Bixente Lizarazu as the left side. He had played the last meeting of the first round against Denmark, while the Blues had already validated their ticket for the knockout stages.
