By Elsa Girard-Basset | Web journalist
A key player in the reconstruction of the French team after the shipwreck of November 1993, Eric Cantona suddenly saw his career in blue come to an end. Result: absent from Euro 1996 then the 1998 World Cup, “Canto” missed all of the great moments of this group which has gone down to posterity. A choice assumed by Aimé Jacquet, and on which the former Manchester United player returned to his side.
A very talented player, Eric Cantona was quickly presented as the technical leader of the post-Platini French team. But while he had reached the status of captain in 1994 and 1995, everything quickly changed in the mind of Aimé Jacquet. For what ? On the one hand because “Canto” was suspended for almost a year following his kick on a hooligan.
When he returned, the player was more inconsistent, and, even if he didn't know it yet, the train had (already) left. Indeed, Jacquet chose around 1996 to focus the offensive animation of his midfield around Zinédine Zidane and Youri Djorkaeff, two exceptional creators. Stuck in the heart of the game, “Canto” was still entitled to a proposal from his coach.
Eric Cantona's reaction to Aimé Jacquet's strong choice
Head of press for the French team for countless years, Philippe Tournon recounts in his book “La vie en bleu” that Cantona was not sidelined due to behavioral problems, as rumor claims. It was in fact his refusal to be positioned in attack that was fatal to him, opening the way to Christophe Dugarry then, ultimately, to Stéphane Guivarc'h:
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Aimé told Cantona: “For the animation of the game, with Youri and Zizou, I think I have found the right formula but ahead, in the absence of Papin, injured, I am still looking for a number 9. Do you want to be that number 9? » Preferring to have more freedom on the pitch, Eric Cantona replied: “Coach, I'm not a 9. I need to move, to zone out. I don’t see myself standing there waiting for the balls.”
This is how Cantona, for a choice which belongs to him and which is entirely respectable, self-excluded from the selection for Euro 96.
A few years later, “Canto” was questioned by Thierry Ardisson about this painful period. The opportunity for him to discuss his feelings towards Aimé Jacquet, with a generally classy speech:
At one point I had hatred (towards him), of course. (He corrects himself) Not hatred, but I would have preferred to play, that's for sure. Today, I don't have anything anymore… I don't have anything. And then it went very well (for the French team). Maybe if I had played it wouldn't have happened like that, or maybe it would. We'll never know.
Do I feel like an orphan from the victory of 1998? No. I have experienced extraordinary things, great joys, and also great disappointments. That’s one of the great disappointments of life, and the things that make you move forward.
Not one to blame others, Eric Cantona did not want to overwhelm Aimé Jacquet for the strong choice of which he was the victim. Surely aware that his long suspension did not help him, as did his refusal to play in a different position than the one to which he aspired, “Canto” respects the tactician and his determination to apply his method. A paid method, and which led to this famous legendary July 12, 1998.
