At D -49 of the opening of the Euro, reunion and testimony of Michel Stievenard, actor in 1960 in the blue jersey of the first final phase of a competition which was then called “European Nations Cup”.
Rain and greyness recalling the North where he was born, in Waziers in 1937, beautiful house in a quiet area of the agglomeration of Angers, in Maine-et-Loire, large stature opening a double door as in the farms of yesteryear, one afternoon in January. Under his whitened and furrowed eyebrows, he imposes some as on the grounds which he skimmed the past times, but just as pleasant to the visitor coming to knock on his window.
Madame is there, considerate, the welcome and the house are warm, the couple are happy not to have been forgotten. Michel Stievenard, memory intact, can tell, with the emotion and the strength of the striker he remains, a football of yesteryear and a first final phase of the European Nations Championship in which he played both matches, his only two selections for the blue jersey, in 1960.
BLUES WITHOUT THEIR CREAMS IN CHANTILLY
“Physically standout”
“The preparation for a fortnight at Chantilly took place in a nice atmosphere with Mr. Albert Batteux, trainer and a great guy. I was a left winger having always been in good physical condition. Before going to RC Lens, I had done Normal School because I wanted to be a gym teacher. I was good at all sports and the one I played the least at first was soccer. I played basketball, hand in goal, athletics and physically, I was above it. Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine were not there, Armand Penverne, Roger Piantoni and François Remetter were also missing. François Heutte was appointed center-forward and I didn’t play in 11 but in 10, with Jean Vincent on one side. That surprised me, but Mr. Batteux placed me in the middle because physically, I was out of the competition ”.
Under the blue jersey (Archives FFF).
A WEDDING IN WHITE …
“Arrived all fire, all flame”
“1960 is a great year in my life with first my marriage in March and then this Euro in June. I had gone through the Juniors and U21 selections, I was 23 years old, I was in full swing and the marriage had done me good [rires]. Other players not very serious came as tourists when I arrived all fire, all fire. I won my starting place as well, in preparation for Chantilly and during friendly matches. With the reward of competing for this Euro, both a good and a bad memory ”.
… AND A BLUE BURIAL
“Come to win”
“We first played Yugoslavia, this famous match that we lost 4-5 and that I will never forget because we lead 4-2 when there was only a quarter of an hour of play. earn it. The big responsible, so to speak and peace to his soul, was Georges Lamia, goalkeeper of OGC Nice: of the five goals, four are for him. It was also Robert Herbin’s first game, like for me, and let’s say that in central defense, that also “fair” a little bit. It was a big disappointment because the important thing for us was to go to the final. The “consoling” then in Marseilles did not matter any more and we lost it 2-0 against Czechoslovakia. We had to do it but we weren’t playing for third or fourth place. We came to win ”.
HIS PLAYING STYLE
“A mixture of Mbappé and Giroud”
“I was very fast like Kylian Mbappé [sourire] and I had a very good head game, like Olivier Giroud [nouveau sourire]. It was my strong point and I was also strong, very physical… It’s impossible to compare. We were professional but it was not like today in supervision and medical follow-up. There was nothing. When a player was injured, he had to heal himself. I got caught up in the air by my Angers SCO managers after taking a hit – I still have traces of it. [il la montre sur sa cuisse] – for having gone to Paris myself to a “physiotherapist”, which had restored me in eight days. They were not happy with this approach… ”.
A striking and spectacular style, under the jersey of Angers SCO facing the Red Star on October 24, 1965 in Division 1 (Richard Loyant / FFF shot of a large reproduction by Agence Universal Photo).
AN ABORTED TRICOLOR CAREER
“The twelfth with the pharmacy”
“It was not the same time: we played eleven, another took the pharmacy to make the twelfth on the bench and if there was an injured person, he could not come into play. I was then selected. ten times but I had no chance to enter as a substitute. I regretted not having been able to play with Kopa and Fontaine en Bleu. I only did it in training courses and at the ball level, it was much better. Raymond, we couldn’t take the ball from him, he was so hung up on the ground… There weren’t thirty-six players like him. He really had a particular style, he didn’t score a lot but he did score, including Fontaine who, for his part, missed practically nothing ”.
Scorer in the colors of RC Lens, his first professional club, with whom he won two Charles-Drago Cup (photo Archives FFF).
FOOTBALL NOW
“To play, a reward”
“It annoys me when players complain about playing too many matches. We were bothered by training, playing was the reward. What is an hour and a half when you are in physical condition? On the other hand, what I see currently saddens me, and it is not the fault of the players. These empty stadiums … We need the public, that “dope”, although the stages have changed. When we went to Nîmes, for example, people were on the edge of the sidelines and I liked that, even if we were whistled ”.
With one of the rare trophies he kept, memory of a gala match between Angers SCO and Benfica Lisbon of Eusébio, Ballon d’Or 1965 and only scorer of this meeting (0-1), the 14 June 1967 at the Parc des Princes in front of 30,000 people (photo Richard Loyant / FFF).
TODAY’S BLUES
“Mbappé has all the qualities”
“I love Kylian M’Bappé. He has all the qualities and he seems to me to be a super intelligent kid, which is not the case with all footballers. I have known a lot of players who did not have a career because of their fault. All I have now is being very serious. When you start at seventeen, you lift a finger and the girls come running. It is above all what should not be done. It takes a regular life and you only have it if you are well supervised by the family. In all generations, there have always been very good ones and others as well, but which had nothing in the cigar. When you invest in fifteen years, you should not miss them. I quit at 33, I could have continued but I felt it was the right time. This is why I also like Didier Deschamps who, I believe, knows all this well ”.
Read also :
Euro 1960, fourth for a first
The players selected for Euro 1960
The course of the Blues at Euro 1960
Euro 1960 witness: Maryan Wisniewski
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