On Sunday July 12, 1998, a 3-0 victory against Brazil-on a double of the head of Zinedine Zidane and a third goal signed Emmanuel Petit-offered France his very first football world cup. Mythical. The 22 players chosen by Aimé Jacquet entered the legend of their sport. The story will also remember that the coach of the Blues had summoned 28 players two months ago and that six of them were sent from the group after two weeks of preparation!
The book The Night of the Cursed (Fayard editions), published in 2018 by journalist Karim Nedjari (who followed the news of the EDF for The Parisian At the time), returned to the ouster of Lionel Letizi, Martin Djetou, Pierre Laigle, Sabri Lamouchi, Ibrahim Ba and Nicolas Anelka on Friday May 22 in Clairefontaine. The six players were gathered in the coach's room after dinner at the castle at 9:30 p.m. The last episode of our podcast Golazo Return to this damn dramatic evening.
Aimé Jacquet preferred Lionel Charbonnier in Letizi for the role of third goalkeeper behind Fabien Barthez and Bernard Lama. The young Taulier of Monaco Martin Djetou was not taken because Frank Leboeuf was chosen as the lining of Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly (in addition to Lilian Thuram). Pierre Laigle was preceded by Vincent Candela (and Emmanuel Petit) at the post of left side and Sabri Lamouchi, in the midfield, had not convinced in Russia-France in March 1998.
“I'm still angry with Aimé Jacquet”
Ibrahim Ba and Nicolas Anelka could have largely accompanied “Zizou”, Youri Djorkaeff or Thierry Henry in the offensive sector. “Ibou” Ba was the only real right wing of the 28! “I don't believe it for a second. I'm going to be frank: I'm still angry with Aimé Jacquet. I really think I deserved my place among the 22nd. I always live it as an injustice. It is a story that has changed the course of my life. But today I accept the fact that I can never go back ”launched Ba at Parisian when the publication of The Night of the Cursed.
Still traumatized two decades later, Ibrahim Ba never told Aimé Jacquet again. “He can always tell me that Christophe Dugarry, who was preferred to me, was better. But I wouldn't believe it. In my place, Dugarry also would have had the balls ”launches the one who was 24 years old at the time. Revealed to the Girondins de Bordeaux, Ba won AC Milan in the 1997-1998 season, scoring a goal and giving 13 assists. But it is another former Bordeaux, Christophe Dugarry, a great friend of Zidane, who was therefore preferred to complete the attack.
On the other hand, “Ibou” Ba does not recall that he had a serious altercation with Marcel Desailly in the cloakroom of AC Milan during the season, as told The Night of the Cursed. The Taulier des Blues, nicknamed “The Ambassador” in selection, had descended his young compatriot in flames in front of all the other players in the wake of a derby in San Siro. During another Serie A shock, Ibrahim Ba had also badly responded to Didier Deschamps, the other executive of the EDF with Desailly. Fatal.
