Although he has never played with the French team, although he was called up in 1985, Pascal Olmeta has experienced all the age categories in blue: from the Espoirs to the A' via the Olympic team. After his career, from 2001 to 2004, the former goalkeeper (64 years old) even tasted the national beach soccer team, of which Éric Cantona was the coach. A time of which he has excellent memories, some however a little muscular.
The former goalkeeper for Racing Paris, OM and even OL particularly remembers a match played on Copacabana beach, in Brazil, against Turkey. A meeting that went very wrong.
“In the morning, at 6 a.m., I got up – we didn't sleep with Jean-Marie (Cantona) – the stadium was not open but there was a queue of a kilometer to get in. And we only played at lunchtime. It was just madness.”he tells Julian Palmieri.
Pascal Olmeta banned for life!
“And there, we play the semi-final against the Turks and it goes badly. The coach spits on Eric, Joël (Cantona) wanted to hit everyone. Me, in goal, as I was in full euphoria, the guy came, threw sand at me and spat on me. In the end, we won, but they hit us, it was slap kicks. Eric, they kept him at fifteen”he remembers, claiming to have initially stayed away from this altercation.
“I stayed behind. I'm waiting, I'm waiting, I'm waiting… The Turkish players and coach went into the locker room, I went there. I came back, I went straight to the coach, I hit him straight in the mouth. The attacker who spat on me, I punched him in the mouth.”he remembers. A gesture which will have had serious consequences for him: “I was banned from beach soccer for life and I didn’t make the final. »
