It is a temporary move that we owe to the legendary delays of the SNCF, this time on the RER B works, but it suits everyone. The FFF, which did not know how to fill Saint-Denis for a match against a third zone team despite the important stake on paper, and those nostalgic for the matches at the Parc des Princes, where the Blues, especially those of Platoche, have often thrills the housewife during decisive qualifying matches for various World Cups.
It is only Kazakhstan, and the ticket to Qatar looks like an administrative formality for the France team, even drunk with matches. and wounded around this time of year, but there was a time when qualifying for the following summer filled players and followers with joy. Back on four crazy matches at the Park, far from the traumatic memories of Kostadinov and company.
October 1965, revenge against Yugoslavia
The glorious generation of Kopa-Fontaine-Piantoni put away the molded crampons and the French team missed the 1962 World Cup. Nobody believes in its possibilities of participating in the 1966 edition, when you have to hit Yugoslavia, bête noire of the time and executioner of the Blues in 1950, 1954 and 1958, in the World Cup or in qualifying. We did not know, to tell the truth, but we listened to the soft voice of Thierry Roland, already to the comments of the ORTF, including during the half-time, where the future friend of Jean-Michel Larqué has a lot of difficult to furnish during the tour of the field of the military band.
This is the time of the old Parc des Princes, the one with the pink cycling track to make Velodrome between the field and the stands, that of pubs à la papa, Panzani, Esso and Coca-Cola. Imagine that, already at the time, we tickled the nostrils between followers of 4-2-4 everything for the attack then in vogue and the reminiscences of the “Swiss lock” advocated by Helenio Herrera, misunderstood Franco-Argentinian coach in our regions but which triumphs in Spain and Italy. France wins 1-0 thanks to Gondet and qualifies for the English World Cup, where it will not pass the hens.
October 1977, A France-Bulgaria that ends well
The archive closet takes us here to Antenne 2, where the late Bernard Père, future creator of Stage 2, looks back on the exploit of the day before, the birth certificate of the Platoche generation. “In a rather extraordinary atmosphere, since the Parc des Princes was rebuilt (1972), we had not known that”, explains the journalist in the preamble to his report.
Opposite, Bulgaria, who had snatched a draw in the first leg in Sofia (2-2), day famous anger by Thierry Roland, that we can not resist giving you in full:
“Ah it’s unbelievable that he awards a penalty on that. So there I am really not afraid to say it Mr. Foote you are a bastard…. Next, next! Well there is a good god believe me. What a scandal this arbitration is unbelievable. Never seen an individual like this, he should be in jail, not on a football field. “
One year later, Bulgarians need a draw to see Argentina. But carried by the public, the Blues quickly lead 2-0 thanks, among other things, to a Platoche warhead. Despite the reduction in the score and despite Charles Corver, the Dutch referee who will find the Blues in Seville in 1982, the France team to qualify for the World Cup, and Michel Hidalgo, its coach, is carried in triumph at the stroke of final whistle.
November 1981, the fear match against the Netherlands
If there is a turning point in the history of the France team, it may be here. Platini said it himself, long after, in remarks recalled this week by the Team: “If we didn’t win that day, if I didn’t score, nothing that happened next would have happened. No World Cup, no Euro, nothing, and everything has to be rebuilt. The free kick I put against the Netherlands remains my most important goal. This is the goal of our generation. “
A very nice free kick, for the record, since Platini had sent the first into the wall, and benefited from a second chance even better placed because of a Dutch hand that nobody had seen. But we are talking about a time when we did not yet contest the slightest whistle. How else to explain the placidity of the finalists of the last two editions of the World Cup, when Johnny Rep was reported offside at 44th minute as he presented himself alone facing Castaneda.
The future Stéphanois striker was however covered by a good meter by Lopez, and the story would undoubtedly have been different at 1-0 for the Orange, who only needed a draw to play at least the play-offs. A confirmation that favorable whistles are forgotten faster than others. Rewarded for his audacity, if you will, with a composition of three numbers 10 (Platini, Giresse, Genghini), Hidalgo is at the foot of a magical triptych: semi-final in 92, victory at Euro 84, semi -final in 86.
November 1985, Yugoslavia, again
Before 1986, victory over Italy, world champion and the masterpiece of Guadalajara Against Brazil, there were painful qualifiers and a last game at the Park tossed against Yugoslavia, again, and in front of an audience made more demanding by the new status of the Blues. This time with Henri Michel on the bench, and Michel Hidalgo in the comments.
The pressure is much more palpable than four years earlier, The team
titled “Mexico or Maxicouac”The morning of the match. The GDR can still qualify, Bulgaria too, as well as Yugoslavia, in case of victory in Paris. But what can happen to a France team looking to qualify at home when they have Michel Platini in their ranks? The leader of Juve scored another formidable free kick – “the banana shot over the wall”, nicely described Jean-Michel Larqué – before doubling the bet after the rest on a low volley. The last free kick scored by Platoche in the France team, statistics say. He had chosen his day well.