Football World Cup 1958 / France

This article covers the French national team at the 1958 World Cup .

qualification

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	France	19: 04	7: 1
2	Belgium	16:11	5: 3
3	Iceland	06:26	0: 8

France	-	Belgium	6: 3
France	-	Iceland	8-0
Iceland	-	France	1: 5
Belgium	-	France	0-0

Due to the draw in Brussels, les Bleus were able to avoid a play-off for the group victory against their old rival Belgium - the goal difference did not count in qualifying or in the World Cup finals if there was a tie, if progress was dependent on it - and thus qualified directly for the finals in Sweden .

France scored 19 goals: Thadée Cisowski (7), who almost single-handedly shot down the "red devils" in the first leg with 5 hits, as well as Jean Vincent (3), Joseph Ujlaki , Roger Piantoni, Célestin Oliver (2 each), Maryan Wisnieski , René Dereuddre and Saïd Brahimi (1 each).

Preparation and French contingent

In France they were by no means particularly optimistic before these World Cup finals, because the national team had offered a very poor performance of the season until the departure: apart from the qualifying victory in Iceland, they had four draws and two defeats in 1957/58. After the goalless draw against Belgium, Gabriel Hanot analyzed in the Équipe that the Bleus were "a team without character, without initiative, without momentum, which were content with waiting" and whose appearance corresponded to an "only mediocre second division game in which on the Turf [at best] good will, but no class ”could be recognized.
It was also unclear whether Just Fontaine could finally show off his scoring qualities in the blue dress, especially since the other aspirant for the center-forward position, René Bliard (Stade de Reims), had to leave Sweden after a training injury and was replaced by Raymond Bellot. After all, the selection committee of the FFF association under Paul Nicolas and trainer Albert Batteux had called up the brilliant head of the team, Raymond Kopa, after a long national absence (and left Joseph Ujlaki from OGC Nice at home). These two personal decisions in particular should turn out to be an extraordinarily successful move.

In addition, four players (including two strikers) from the planned regular line-up could not make the trip to Sweden: Thadée Cisowski (RC Paris) was injured shortly before, and the Algerian-born Rachid Mekhloufi (AS Saint-Étienne), Abdelaziz Ben Tifour and Mustapha Zitouni (both AS Monaco) had decided to support the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) against French rule in their home country's struggle for independence . After they had played in an Algerian FLN "national team" in April 1958 , the French Football Association no longer considered them. In the days of May 1958, the French public was hardly focused on football, but rather on the precipitous events in Algiers , Oran and Constantine and on the end of the Fourth Republic in their own country.

Of central importance for the growing together of the contingent was Nicolas 'and Batteux' measure in the run-up to the tournament to repeatedly convene the national team squad from January 1958 for one to two-day training camps and games - as was a previously unknown process in the history of the Equipe Tricolore The fact that the 21 chosen ones (Kopa only received free from Real a few days later, after the victorious European Cup final ), their two coaches, Sélectionneur Nicolas, plus the team doctor, a physiotherapist and a cook arrived and stayed almost three weeks before the start of the tournament based in central Sweden , very remote Kopparberg . The first week was exclusively for recreation: the Reims players, for example, had played up to 82 (!) Games in the past season, which they finished as champions and cup winners , including several international friendlies with exhausting trips (including in the spring to Argentina) . Subsequently, the Équipe tricolore played in numerous friendship encounters against local amateur teams for 14 days, and a kind of "Geist von Kopparberg" developed, a myth not dissimilar to the West German " Geist von Spiez " four years earlier .

Number / name		Association at the time	birthday	Games	Gates	Space management
goalkeeper
01	Claude Abbes	AS Saint-Etienne	05/24/1927	4th	0	0
02	Dominique Colonna	Stade de Reims	09/04/1928	0	0	0
03	François Remetter	Girondins Bordeaux	08/08/1928	2	0	0
defender
04th	Raymond Kaelbel	AS Monaco	January 31, 1932	6th	0	0
05	André Lerond	Olympique Lyon	December 06, 1930	6th	0	0
06th	Roger Marche	Racing Paris	03/05/1924	1	0	0
07th	Robert Mouynet	Olympique Lyon	March 25, 1930	0	0	0
runner
08th	Bernard Chiarelli	US Valenciennes	02/24/1934	0	0	0
09	Kazimir Hnatov	SCO Angers	01/09/1929	0	0	0
10	Robert Jonquet	Stade de Reims	05/03/1925	5	0	0
11	Maurice Lafont	Olympique Nîmes	09/13/1927	1	0	0
12	Jean-Jacques Marcel	Olympique Marseille	06/13/1931	5	0	0
13	Armand Penverne	Stade de Reims	11/26/1926	6th	0	0
striker
14th	Raymond Bellot (a)	AS Monaco	06/09/1929	0	0	0
15th	Stéphane Bruey	SCO Angers	December 01, 1932	0	0	0
16	Yvon Douis	Lille OSC	May 16, 1935	1	1	0
17th	Just Fontaine	Stade de Reims	08/18/1933	6th	13	0
18th	Raymond Kopa	real Madrid	10/13/1931	6th	3	0
19th	Celestin Oliver	UA Sedan-Torcy	07/12/1930	0	0	0
20th	Roger Piantoni	Stade de Reims	December 26, 1931	5	3	0
21st	Jean Vincent	Stade de Reims	11/29/1930	6th	1	0
22nd	Maryan Wisnieski	RC Lens	02/01/1937	6th	2	0
Trainer
	Albert Batteux		07/02/1919
	Jean Snella (Assistant Trainer)		December 9, 1914
	Paul Nicolas (Sélectionneur)		11/04/1899

^(a)nominated for René Bliard before the start of the tournament

French team games

Preliminary round

France played in Group 2 with Yugoslavia, Paraguay and Scotland. The coaching team relied on the tried and tested corset of five Reims players (or six with the ex- Rémois Kopa) and put the team on practically the same in all three group games (in the so-called World Cup system , with the middle runner Jonquet as the last man between the two defense counsel):

Remetter
Kaelbel		Jonquet		Lerond
Penverne			Marcel
Kopa			Piantoni
Wisnieski		Fontaine		Vincent

There were only two personnel changes: against the Yugoslavs, the ailing Marcel was replaced by defender Marche , another former Reimser (Lerond moved into the runner-up), and after this defeat goalkeeper Remetter had to vacate his place for Abbes until the end of the tournament .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	France	11: 07	4: 2
2	Yugoslavia	07: 06	4: 2
3	Paraguay	09:12	3: 3
4th	Scotland	04: 06	1: 5

France	-	Paraguay	7: 3 (2: 2)
France	-	Yugoslavia	2: 3 (1: 1)
France	-	Scotland	2: 1 (2: 0)

Match reports

Against Paraguay on June 8th in the Idrottsparken in Norrköping in front of 16,530 spectators; SR: Gardeazabal (Spain):

0: 1 Florencio Amarilla (20th), 1: 1 Fontaine (24th), 2: 1 Fontaine (30th), 2: 2 Florencio Amarilla (43rd, FE) - 2: 3 Jorge Romero (50th), 3: 3 Piantoni (51st), 4: 3 Wisnieski (62nd), 5: 3 Fontaine (68th), 6: 3 Kopa (70th), 7: 3 Vincent (84th)

In the opening game the French had a hard time at first, had to catch up against the carefree Paraguayans (whose team had an average age of less than 23 years) at the beginning of both halves of the game against the little-known in Europe, carefree Paraguayans and goalkeeper Remetter did not make the safest impression - but From the 50th minute the attack machine rolled, the new internal storm harmonized brilliantly and hit every six minutes, so that the South Americans could be happy at the end of not having received more than seven hits.

Against Yugoslavia on June 11th in Arosvallen in Västerås in front of 12,220 spectators; SR: Griffiths (Wales):

1-0 Fontaine (4th), 1: 1 Aleksandar Petaković (16th) - 1: 2 Todor Veselinović (63rd), 2: 2 Fontaine (85th), 2: 3 Todor Veselinovic (87th)

Three days later against Yugoslavia, the Bleus ' feared opponent , the increased cover was of little use because Remetter was again a weak point. France made the match consistently superior: the team from the Balkans were very defensive and limited themselves to a few, but dangerous counterattacks. Key players for the Yugoslavs were goalkeeper Vladimir Beara , who drove the French strikers to despair, and Branko Zebec , who did not let Raymond Kopa flourish as usual. The dream of a draw, when Fontaine scored the 2-2 with his fifth World Cup goal in the 85th minute, lasted only two minutes, then Remetter had to reach behind him again, which turned the course of the game upside down.

Against Scotland on June 15th at Örebro's Eyravallen in front of 13,550 spectators; SR: Brozzi (Argentina):

1-0 Kopa (22nd), 2-0 Fontaine (45th) - 2-1 Samuel Baird (65th) - Special: Baird misses a penalty (33rd)

The goal against Scotland was to avoid a possible play-off - and for that a win was absolutely necessary. With Abbes in goal, the defense played safer, Baird could not use the early chance to equalize (he hit the post with a penalty) and up front Kopa and Fontaine had shot up a reassuring advantage by the break, which was no longer seriously due to the Scots connecting goal was in danger - on the contrary: the Scots owed it all to their substitute keeper William Brown , who thwarted around half a dozen "surefire" chances that they did not fall under the wheels of the French attack machine.

Quarter finals

France - Northern Ireland 4: 0 (1: 0)  

On June 19th in the Idrottsparken in Norrköping in front of 11,800 spectators; SR: Gardeazabal (Spain):

1: 0 Wisnieski (44.) - 2: 0 Fontaine (56.), 3: 0 Fontaine (65.), 4: 0 Piantoni (68.)

The team from the last group game against Scotland also received the trust of their coach against the Northern Irish surprise team: Abbes; Kaelbel, Jonquet, Lerond; Penverne, Marcel; Kopa, Piantoni; Wisnieski, Fontaine, Vincent .

The Northern Irish had to compete again just 48 hours after their 120-minute play-off against the CSSR , and during this time they also had to cope with a 500 km bus tour from Malmö to Norrköping. For 43 minutes the men around goalie Gregg ("The man in the yellow sweater"), the experienced runner Blanchflower and the goal- scoring McParland were able to withstand the playful French - but Wisnieski's goal shortly before the break broke the morale of the Northern Irish, and after the break Fontaine and Piantoni scored three more goals within 12 minutes, then obviously spared themselves for the following game.

Semifinals

France - Brazil 2: 5 (1: 2)  

On June 24th at Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm in front of 27,100 spectators; SR: Griffiths (Wales):

0: 1 Vavá (2nd), 1: 1 Fontaine (9th), 1: 2 Didi (39th) - 1: 3 Pelé (52nd), 1: 4 Pelé (64th), 1: 5 Pelé ( 75th), 2: 5 Piantoni (82nd) ​​- Special: During the entire game, the radio report of the other semi-final was broadcast over the stadium speakers

Understandably , the French also ran into the same line-up against the Seleção .

With Brazil and France, the most attractive formations of the tournament met in the semifinals, and they did not disappoint the spectators who had found their way to the Rasunda Stadium despite the game of their Tre kronar taking place at the same time : they got a high-class, in the 1st half as well dramatic duel between two advocates of technically advanced attacking football. When the score was 1: 1 (Fontaine's equalizer after a terrific Kopa solo by the entire Brazilian defense was the first goal that goalkeeper Gilmar had to accept in this tournament), after a good half an hour there was a violent clash between center forward Vavá and France Defense chief Jonquet, who returned to the lawn with a contorted face after a long break in treatment, could barely move and stood around on the left flank until the break. In this situation Didi scored a remarkable goal against a rearranged French defense to make it 2-1. Since substitutions were not allowed at the time, Jonquet was given a pain reliever injection at half-time and returned to the field. Pelé's hat-trick between the 52nd and 75th minutes was a feast for the eyes, but distorted the actual proportions of the game in this encounter - and the Équipe tricolore did not put up what was rewarded by Piantoni's goal. After the final whistle, the brave Jonquet passed out briefly; the pain of the subsequently diagnosed double fracture of the tibia must have been unbearable.

3rd place match

France - Germany 6: 3 (3: 1)  

On June 28th at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg in front of 32,480 spectators; SR: Brozzi (Argentina):

1: 0 Fontaine (15th), 1: 1 Cieslarczyk (17th), 2: 1 Kopa (27th, FE), 3: 1 Fontaine (36th) - 4: 1 Douis (50th), 4: 2 Rahn (52nd), 5: 2 Fontaine (77th), 5: 3 Schäfer (83rd), 6: 3 Fontaine (89th) - Special: Kopa fouls Szymaniak deserving of dismissal (54th), but gets the free kick himself and apologizes immediately after the final whistle for his lack of self-control

For this game, the team was only changed to two positions because of injuries, because coach Batteux took the "small final" as seriously as if it were a question of the title: Lafont came for Jonquet (whose middle position Lerond took and put on the captain's armband for Penverne) and the young Douis for Piantoni, who had to go to hospital at short notice because of acute appendicitis.

Against the West Germans, who were also repositioned in several positions, les Bleus dictated the action from the start, looked as fresh and hungry as they did when they first played against Paraguay and performed splendid counterattacks. It was the fourth game of this World Cup in which neutral observers put France's performance on a par with that of Brazil, particularly praising the game designer and the goal scorer in the highest tones.

Dr. Friedebert Becker wrote in the kicker : “France gave the Germans a lesson today ... earned the bronze medal! They are worth [sic!] A striker game ... near completion. We are excited to see whether Brazil or Sweden will succeed in outshining the French tomorrow. ” And L'Équipe quoted France's coach Albert Batteux as saying “ That was the victory of spirit over matter ” .

Conclusion

This third place was the greatest success of a French national team to date - and the 13 goals that Just Fontaine scored in the six games (plus at least one goal in each game) represent the record of all previous World Cup finals to date (June 2018) In addition, the best player of the tournament was not chosen as one of the brilliant Brazilian world champions, but with Raymond Kopa, the game designer of the Equipe Tricolore .

literature

• Friedebert Becker: Football World Cup 1958. Copress, Munich 1958 (license issue for Bertelsmann Lesering)
• Pierre Delauney / Jacques de Ryswick / Jean Cornu: 100 ans de football en France. Atlas, Paris 1982, 1983² ISBN 2-7312-0108-8
• Michel Drucker / Jean-Paul Ollivier: Onze hommes en Suède. Kopa, Piantoni, Fontaine et les autres. Édition ° 1, Paris 1988 ISBN 2-86391-293-3
• Gérard Ejnès / L'Équipe: La belle histoire. L'équipe de France de football. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2004 ISBN 2-951-96053-0
• Just Fontaine: Reprise de volée. Solar, unspecified 1970
• Raymond Kopa (and Patrice Burchkalter): Kopa. Jacob-Duvernet, Paris 2006 ISBN 2-84724-107-8
• Nathalie Milion: Piantoni - Roger-la-Classe. La Nuée Bleue / Éd. de l'Est, Nancy 2003 ISBN 2-7165-0602-7
• Jules-César Muracciole: Batteux, l'homme du match. (DVD film, 2005)
• Werner Skrentny: Football World Cup 1958 Sweden. AGON, Kassel 2002 ISBN 3-89784-192-4

Web links

• FFF website (French)
• FIFA World Cup (German)

Remarks

1. ↑ Drucker / Ollivier, p. 21
2. ↑ Drucker / Ollivier, p. 193
3. ↑ A little later, Alex Thépot , also a member of the association selection committee, joined in - Drucker / Ollivier, p. 189ff. and 224
4. ↑ Drucker / Ollivier, p. 29f. and 175-190