Aimé Jacquet remains in the hearts of football fans like the one who brought the Cup home in 98. A first world victory, first star on the jersey of
Blues. However, at the start, he was strongly criticized in his position as EdF coach. Worse: he accuses the newspaper L'Equipe of attacks and other personal invectives. “They called him the peasant of Sail-sous-Couzan”, recalls the commentator
Jean-Michel Larque at the microphone ofEurope
1 in 2018. It seems that Aimé Jacquet never gave up.
Worker during the week, footballer at the weekend
Aimé Jacquet, now 82, was born in the Loire.
As a kid, he played in the club from his native village, US Couzan. Later he joined theAS Saint-Etienne. Jacquet is part of what we call the generation of working footballers. To understand : he alternates between work at the factory and football in his spare time.
He becomes a starter, still with the Greens, as a midfielder. It evolves under the leadership of
Jean Snella Then Albert Batteux. The two coaches marked his playing career. And perhaps lay some seeds for the future… Finally, he retired as a player in 1975.
The coach leads the French team to the final
For the general public, Aimé Jacquet still remains today the one who allowed the French team to win the 98 World Cup. And this despite the doubts and fears about his playing patterns. Furthermore, the culmination of a certain media quarrel, Jacquet presents a preselection of 28 players instead of the famous list of 22 before the CDM.
Initially, there was criticism of Aimé Jacquet and his appetite for defensive play. His detractors even speak of a game “chilly”. The specialized press crushes the coach of the Blues after theEuro de 96
where the team did not really shine with its playing qualities.
In May 98, L”Équipe tackled Aimé Jacquet while speaking of “good guy who emits sighs”…
Aimé Jacquet angry with these newspapers
Against all expectations, everything proves the coach of the France team right. This brings the Cup home for the first time. There is euphoria in France, the organizing country.
We then talk about France 'Black Blanc Beur' and the face of Zinedine Zidane lights up the Arc de Triomphe. Aimé Jacquet, himself, remains
revengeful.
The coach is interviewed just after the Blues' victory: “We had been betrayed by newspapers throughout the years. And France finally saw that it had a great French team, that it had great players who defended the French jersey.” He drives the point home before handing over the microphone: “I will never forgive. I will never forgive!”
