If everyone keeps in memory the France-Brazil final of July 12, 1998 (3-0), how can we also remember what happened four days earlier, in the locker room of the Stade de France? That evening, twenty-seven years ago today, the Blues faced Croatia in the semi-finals. And at halftime, nothing was done. Far from it, even.
Despite a good start, Didier Deschamps' teammates had actually fell into the false rhythm imposed by Zvonimir Boban and his family. Which earned them a dirty quarter of an hour at the break, Aimé Jacquet pushing an unforgettable shouting, immortalized by Stéphane Meunier in the documentary
Eyes in the Blues.
Aimé Jacquet gets carried away at halftime
It is first tactically that the tricolor coach has put things to clear. “The simple guys. We had twenty minutes of good and afterwards, we step back, he observed. There is not thirty-six solutions: where we all go back, or we all go back up. Make a choice, otherwise we're going to eat air! So either we all go back together, or we all go down together. »»
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emmh-kkafng
“You have to agree. It's been fifty meters between the attack (and the defense), there is no risk of being dangerous, guys! It's over, huh! They are the ones who laugh, they play two an hour. They pass in the middle, they go up in front, quietly, and you get back. There is a problem, we can no longer play football there, impossible ”he added, Furax.
“Or we all go back in block, or we go down from a notch. It's as you want, you take the choice. No one goes into percussion. When you have the ball, you go up to two an hour. No chance, but no chance guys! We are in the process of annihilating all our chances. It's not difficult! »»he continued, increasingly reassembled.
“What are you afraid of?” Who are you afraid of? »»
“Or we react and we go because there is a final at the end, or you drop and you wait. You wait until we throw the room in the air. There is nobody who moves, no one reacts! What are you afraid of? Who are you afraid of? Fear ? Well you will lose, guys, I tell you. You will lose, you have no problem doing. »»
Words that stung the Blues in their pride. If they were trapped on the return from the locker room on a goal from Davor Suker (46e), who took advantage of a bad alignment of French defense, Lilian Thuram then saved them by marking a fabulous double (47e70e). The only two goals in his career in the French team. The continuation belongs to history.
