The weeks leading up to the 1998 World Cup were very complicated for Aimé Jacquet. While he had to compose a list of twenty-two players, the coach of the France team first selected twenty-eight, before sending six home. A real trauma for most of the “banished”, Nicolas Anelka, Ibrahim Ba, Martin Djetou, Pierre Laigle, Sabri Lamouchi and Lionel Letizi.
But long before that, the French coach had already had to decide on the matter by making strong choices. For Euro 1996, he did not call Eric Cantona and David Ginola, although adored in the Premier League. If “Canto” had, two years later, no chance of being selected, “Gino” could have claimed to compete in the World Cup in France.
“He had two Zidanes in each leg! »says Jérôme Rothen on RMC.
So why did Aimé Jacquet do without the former Tottenham star? “Gino, in terms of qualities, he should have made the World Cup with us in 1998. He was incredible in Englandestimates Emmanuel Petit. But sometimes, you don't take the best players in each position, you do the puzzle that will work best because you know that you will live for weeks in seclusion, in isolation. »
“He should have made the World Cup with us in 1998”
According to him, “the personality of each person must be a strength and not a handicap” in a context like a World Cup. But the former Blues midfielder also suggests that certain executives of the France team, including current coach Didier Deschamps, may have played a determining role in the fate reserved for the former Parisian.
“I heard rumors”slips the ex-Gunner.
“We have often fantasized about Didier's role in many respects, even today as a coach. He is believed to have incredible power in incredible dimensions. As if he was calling the shots for the French football federation, as if he was destined to become the future Minister of Sports. He has this extremely political side”explains Emmanuel Petit, who mentions the existence of discussions in small groups.
“I was never invited to private meetings because people knew very well that with me, these things would not happen. But I know that Canto and Didier were never great friends…”he confirms. David Ginola, the unloved of French football after the terrible France-Bulgaria of 1993, therefore perhaps also paid a high price for his distant relations with the hard core of Aimé Jacquet's gang.
