It’s the story of a record that seemed like nothing and which has become a myth. Death, Wednesday 1er March, at the age of 89, Just Fontaine had, by dint of reinterpreting it, made the formula a palimpsest. “Egyptologists find an intact mummy. They observe her and notice that she is moving under her bandages. They rush to release her, and when she finally can talk, she says, “I’m sorry, but does Just Fontaine still hold the goalscoring record?” »he often amused himself.
Since the summer of 1958, in Sweden, the former striker of the France team has occupied, alone, the first place in the number of goals scored during a World Cup. From Pelé to Lionel Messi via Ronaldo or Miroslav Klose, generations of scorers have broken their teeth on the number thirteen, a lucky charm for the former Stade de Reims icon. “I don’t know if this record will ever be broken., he said in 2014. But hey, if I can keep it. » He will have taken it to the grave.
Around the summer of 1958, when in France General de Gaulle had just been entrusted with full powers, when Algiers had risen up and when generals were dreaming of a coup d’etat in Paris, the The French football team is making its first adventure in the World Cup, rising to third place in a tournament splashed by the talent of its striker Just Fontaine.
A beautiful course in which not many people believed – starting with the French Football Federation, which only carries three sets of jerseys, one for each of the matches of the first round. Whether Paris Match titled, the day after the small final, “They made France one of the greats of football”, the epic of the Blues began in relative anonymity. Only 200 supporters and half a dozen unconvinced journalists made the trip. At the time, football did not have the aura that surrounds it today, and, that summer, France was more passionate about the Tour de France, and the clash between Raphaël Géminiani, Jacques Anquetil and Charlie Gaul.
“A Magical Duo”
“Initially, the French press gave us no chance, we were going there on vacationrecalled Raymond Kopa, in 2017. It seemed, at the time, that we weren’t very, very good. » Before going to Sweden, the Blues had not won a match for seven months, and observers remembered that during the 1954 edition, they had returned from Switzerland without glory, after being eliminated in the first round. “We were told that we were the first to arrive in Sweden and that we would leave first.remembered Roger Piantoni, in 1998. We were hurt in our self-esteem. »
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