Before the final day of the Super League of the year, we take a look “In retrospect” with Sébastien Roth, former international goalkeeper, who notably visited Solothurn, Delémont, Servette and Lorient. And it sucks!
RTSsport.ch: Sébastien Roth, what was the greatest moment of your career?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: My participation in Euro 2004 with Switzerland. I was on duty before Fabrice Borer’s injury and I was in a bistro, without network, when the staff tried to call me to go to Portugal. I was already happy to be in the extended list, but to have been taken afterwards was recognition of my work, of my very good season. Of course, I never wanted a goalkeeper to get injured to take a place, but the misfortune of one made the happiness of another, me in this case, and I really delved fully into it. this competition.
RTSsport.ch: You told us some time agothat it was an extraordinary adventure…
SEBASTIEN ROTH: Yes, totally. Even as a 3rd goalkeeper, you are really part of the life of the group, you have to be a kind of guarantor of the good atmosphere, but also the one who works overtime in training for the free-kick takers, etc. I had to bring my good humor, because a 3rd goalkeeper is not allowed to pull the trigger.
RTSsport.ch: Was there a parade or match more important than the others?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: Difficult to mention a particular stop, but there were some key interventions during the inauguration of the Stade de Genève, in March 2003 against Young Boys (editor’s note: 1-1). It was a special match, because having the chance to open a den, especially in Geneva, doesn’t come along every day. There was a certain enthusiasm, a certain impatience, and we had no right to lose. The stadium was full and I felt immense happiness to be able to experience this with “my” club.
RTSsport.ch: When in your career did you feel strongest?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: From 2004 to the bankruptcy of Servette FC! I had the best feelings. In Geneva, despite the terrible outcome, we had a nice little team. If the management was disastrous, the sports project was not all wrong.
RTSsport.ch: This leads to talking about the moment in your career when you felt most alone…
SEBASTIEN ROTH: Yes, because it was indeed during the bankruptcy of the SFC, a very, very complicated moment, having generated a lot of things that people perhaps did not realize. It was a long period during which we didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, a very tough period morally, not only for me. But there was still some positive, because if when you play, you have people around you, well when you no longer play, there are suddenly fewer people who tap you on the shoulder, fewer who want to go for a coffee, less who ask you… So this allowed me to sort through friends and others.
RTSsport.ch: Are you angry with people today?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: No, I don’t blame people, but more the events, the system, which let things spiral out of control, which meant that only one person took the blame. How could we get to this point with a club like Servette? This should never have happened. Never.
RTSsport.ch: Is there a match that sticks in your memory more than the others?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: It’s not a positive memory, but I remember the strange feeling that accompanied me throughout the Servette-Saint-Gall at the end of 2004 (editor’s note: December 12, score 1-1). While we didn’t yet know anything about the club’s future, I had the weird feeling that it was the end of something. I spent this meeting with a feeling of negative nostalgia, of sadness. Like I felt it happening. Something was wrong. And then, I also remember my first match in the National League, at 16, with SR Delémont against Wil. Unforgettable.
RTSsport.ch: Of all the players you played with, who had the most impact on you?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: Vitorino Hilton, both humanly and sportingly. I am still in contact with him and I met him again when I went to spend a week in Montpellier for my goalkeeper coaching diploma. Hilton is a humble guy, who even came to play at Collex-Bossy for a gala match for Servette FC alumni. That means a lot. Apart from him, I will also mention Eric Pédat, my childhood idol, who opened his arms to me when I arrived in Geneva.
RTSsport.ch: Who was the craziest player you encountered during your career?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: If we talk about madness on the pitch, I can mention Carlos Varela. But I have seen many others! In Solothurn, players smashed their heads against the doors before matches while throwing headbutts! It was apparently their way of motivating themselves. Everyone has their own thing (laughs). In Delémont, there were also some crazy people, guys who played in the National League but behaved as if they were in the 4th League, coming 10 minutes before the meeting, bordering on the bottle of beer. It was another time…
RTSsport.ch: And the funniest thing?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: Without hesitation Léonard Thurre! He was crazy in the good sense of the word, and therefore very funny. Having been around him from the youth selections, I saw some stupid things from him (laughs)!
RTSsport.ch: The nastiest?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: We had a guy at Servette: Faouzi El Brazi. The guy was making tackles at carotid height in training! Fortunately I was a goalkeeper, because in the game I would never have set foot…
RTSsport.ch: Which player was the most annoying to face?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: Even though I played with him, I didn’t like facing Alexander Frei, a real surface fox. You never knew where he was going to be. There are other players who gave me problems, like Gürkan Sermeter, who was particularly dangerous on free kicks.
RTSsport.ch: Which coach particularly impressed you?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: If we talk about team coach, it is clearly Marco Schällibaum, with whom I have developed a special relationship. It was he who promoted me to captain at Servette. There was also Roberto Morinini, who trusted me by making me a starter in Geneva. In terms of working methods, I must mention Christian Gourcuff (editor’s note: in Lorient) and Lucien Favre (editor’s note: at the SFC). And, as a goalkeeper coach, Pascal Marguerat, a great gentleman, pushed me a little more every day in Geneva.
RTSsport.ch: Is there a career choice you regret?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: Maybe I should have joined the great FC Basel, who wanted me when I was at Servette, in 2004. But I’m thinking about this now, because the bankruptcy occurred a few months later. Except that at the time, there was no question for me of leaving the SFC, with which we were playing at the top of the table. I was captain, a starter, and it was inconceivable for me to leave like that.
RTSsport.ch: What was your best encounter thanks to football?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: There have been a lot of them and I must say that before the bankruptcy of Servette, I didn’t meet any bad guys in the industry. So it’s hard to single out just one name, but I’m going to talk about Pascal Marguerat, Jackie Barlie, Eric Pédat, Sébastien Fournier, Oscar Londono, David Gonzalez and even Matias Vitkieviez. More than former teammates, they are real friends, whom I always enjoy seeing again. And if there was a lost person that I would like to find, it would be Robert DuBuisson, a former Solothurn defender, who brought me a lot on a human level when I was barely 20 years old.
RTSsport.ch: What was the biggest party?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: We did it after winning the Cup in 2001 with Servette! This party lasted a few days, not just one evening (laughs). Under the leadership of Sébastien Fournier, we all met in Valais, just between us, and we then made the most of our victory. It wasn’t a football team that had just won something, but a real group of friends. It was magical.
RTSsport.ch: What anecdote have you never told for which there would be a statute of limitations today?
SEBASTIEN ROTH: There will never be a statute of limitations on what happened in the locker room (laughs)! It’s not that there is nothing unspeakable, but in my opinion, everything that happened in the groups must remain in the groups, must continue to belong to them. Everything we have experienced belongs only to us and sharing these things would then no longer have the same value or meaning.
Arnaud Cerutti
