Remaining in the shadow of Aimé Jacquet in 1998, Roger Lemerre entered the pantheon of French football thanks to the coronation of the Blues at Euro 2000.
If the coronation of the French team against Brazil, on July 12, 1998, suffered from no dispute, it was quite different, in 2000, during the final of Euro 2000. For the Blues may have dominated the debates, it did not take a few seconds for Italy to prevail.
But that was without counting on a clearance of his camp by Fabien Barthez, a deviation from the head of David Trezeguet at the entrance to the surface, then above all a chest -oriented control and a strike of the left foot at the cross angle of Sylvain Wiltord. While the last minute of additional time runs, the Blues equalize and tear the extension. A few minutes later, a magnificent volley of David Trezeguet after an acceleration by Robert Pirès in his left corridor will offer the title to the French team.
Sylvain Wiltord, Robert Pirès and David Trezeguet, all entered in the second half while Italy had taken the lead, are therefore the heroes of July 2, 2000. Another man is celebrated, Roger Lemerre, the tricolor coach. If he had difficult beginnings on the bench after succeeding Aimé Jacquet, he knew how to impose his paw during the Euro and his coaching will have made the difference in the final.
Roger Lemerre fades behind the group
“Given by the eyes of the president of the French Federation, Roger Lemerre is credited with perfect coaching with changes at timely moments”Lances Claude Simonet after the final. “At 0-1, he brought two attackers. Adding a third was not the solution, they could have walked on it. On the other hand, it was necessary to ventilate the midfielder, even if it went through the sacrifice of Lizarazu for the benefit of worse ”, explains his assistant, René Girard.
Bixente Lizarazu, in (very) good competitor, necessarily lived badly to be recalled on the bench five minutes from the end.
“We had to mark, we needed an additional offensive option. This is the choice that Roger made, I understood, it paid for ”, recently entrusted the old side to
The team.
For his part, Roger Lemerre takes care to fade. “I kept my old generals at the beginning, my infantrymen did the rest when the first started to bend the spine”he says, adding: “I have brought nothing. I do not reason in these terms. On a personal level, I don’t interest me. Am I proud? I have the same pride as you, with the feeling of a reality for the work of thousands of educators and volunteers. »»
“A coach must be held outside the group”he said again. The group will have experienced its passage on the Blues bench very well. “I loved his ability to host training sessions, with this little madness that he was constantly brought which allowed us to get out of the partitioning in which we lived”, explained Emmanuel Petit in the past, adding:
“Roger did not hesitate to put us back in place, too, with always a touch of humor. For me, it was very important. »»
