When the Blues won their first World Cup on July 12, 1998 at the Stade de France, Stéphane Guivarc'h was established in the center-forward. Faced with Brazil, the AJ Auxerre striker will remain silent, just as he had already been since the start of the competition.
At the time, Breton seemed completely legitimate to play this role. Indeed, he had just finished twice consecutively top scorer in the French first division championship, in 1997 and 1998, under the colors of Stade Rennais and then of AJ Auxerre.
However, at the start of the 1997-1998 exercise, Florian Maurice seemed to hold the rope to be the number 9 of the Blues during this World Cup organized at home. Recruited by Paris Saint-Germain during the summer transfer window for 41 million francs (around 6.3 million euros), from Olympique Lyonnais, the latter was then presented as the worthy successor of Jean-Pierre Papin.
Florian Maurice, the failed train of the World 98
Aimé Jacquet had already granted him his confidence during the France tournament, disputed from June 3 to 11, 1997 as preparation for the World Cup. Author of an excellent start to the season with PSG (seven goals scored in twelve days), in the company of Marco Simone, Florian Maurice will experience a drop in regime that will be fatal to him.
“My biggest regret is not to have played the 98 World Cuphe deplores, taking stock of his career. I came out of a season when I was not terrible at PSG and I was logically not called. I regret it all the more since I was in the France group before and after the World Cup, but not during… ”. After the 1998 World Cup, Aimé Jacquet will recall it and Maurice will score his only goal in the COQ struck jersey on November 13, 1999, during a friendly match against Croatia.
