Les Verts dans le New York Times! Anticipation, traduit en francais
Posted: 17 Apr 2018, 16:57
New York Times, July 15th 2018
Beyond the convincing and undisputable victory of “Les Bleus” yesterday versus Brazil (3-0) in the soccer World Cup final in Moscow, a very peculiar and strange phenomenon was the centre of attention of many observers: no less than 6 of the newly crowned world champions were players from a medium and inauspicious French city: Saint-Etienne, the home of “Les Verts”.
This is a bigger number than Barcelona’s players playing for Spain in 2010, or Bayern Munich players playing for Germany in the 2014 Mannschaft! Six World champions are from “Les Verts”, the legendary popular team of central France! How could this be possible?
As World media are rushing to l’Etrat, our correspondant in France, Gilles Favard tries to explain that mystery for us.
GF: The Saint-Etienne team was going nowhere by the end of 2017, and was promised to a probable relegation to Ligue 2. Following my advise, the two presidents, Caiazzo and Romeyer, decided to spend their hard earned money on a few experienced players. It all started with Mathieu Debuchy. The right back defender had a very dull year in Arsenal, and was transferred for free for only 6 months to Forez! Many fans, such as the emblematic Faiseur de Tresses, were not favourable to his arrival, but something totally unexpected happened: he played like a God! He scored almost every game, and reached phenomenal statistics. Didier Deschamps, following my advise, had no choice but to take him in the list of 23, especially after the injury of Sidibe, the Monaco belly dancer. Debuchy became the official French right back from game one in Russia, and went to play until the Final! Icing on the cake, he scored the last goal of the competition!
NYT: OK, maybe one miracle can happen. But how about the others?
GF: Well, after that, it was all about the Goal Keeping. The main guy, who plays for Tottenham in England, and looks like Pierre Palmade, a not so famous French humourist, started to commit blunder after blunder. DD, the French coach, was crazily worried. On top of it, his protégé, the Marseillais Mandanda, was barely able to walk. He had no other choice therefore than to ask his friend Pierre Menes to call Stephane Ruffier, the green keeper, to accept to join back the French team. Deschamp was scared of Ruffier, but he was even more scared to be ridiculous in Russia. So Ruffier became the number one. And of course, scoring against France became virtually impossible, because Ruffier is a wall.
NYT: OK again, but how to explain another four World champions from this legendary team?
GF: Fate, I guess. The central defense was decimated. Koscielny, Rami, and Varanne managed to get injured in the different May European cups encounters. As they usually do. DD panicked and had no choice but to call back the experienced and solid Loic Perrin, who finally made it to the World Cup at the age of 31. His excellent end of season with the Greens, and the miraculous qualification to Europa League spoke in his favour of course. He controlled Neymar for 90 minutes.
NYT: Unbelievable! But how do you explain the presence of M’Vila in the list?
GF: As I always said, M’Vila is one of the most talented French midfielders. Maybe the most gifted. DD started to realise that his selection was full of mistakes, and after a long phone call with Jean-Louis, he decided to replace Tolisso, an over-rated young guy from Lyon, now playing in Germany, who used to be beaten up by his girl friend, by the solid M’Vila. What a hit! After the injury of Kante in quarter finals, M’Vila led les Bleus to the title!
NYT: And are you telling me that Cabella was a natural choice of course?
GF: I would not go so far, but DD, who by now was talking to me every day, started to lose faith in Lemar, the Monaco “espoir” who was simply ridiculous during the last game against PSG, and the show of Cabella during the last 5 games, and his final 9 goals played mightily for him.
NYT: Fine, but now, the presence of the young Bamba, does it make any sense at all?
GF: No of course, but this is the magic of football! When Martial, Dembele, Coman and Payet were the victims of this debilitating virus during the training camp in Tignes and forced to give up, nobody gave a chance to “Les Bleus”. Thanks God, FIFA authorised France to call back a few players. Bamba, as one promising player form the under 21 French national team, was the last one on the list. And he was lucky to replace M’Bappe in the final last 15 minutes, and so fortunate to pass the ball to Debuchy for the last goal, as he was so used to do in his club!
NYT: What a fairy tale! And now, what is the future for this amazing team?
GF: Well, the future seems bright. All the new stars of Les Verts have all signed fresh contracts, and thanks to the new Investor, the Saudi Sovereign Fund “Mecca Sport Venture” led by Mohammad Bin Salman, and determined to put an end to the domination of Qatar in French football, more great players are going to sign! It seems that Aubameyang will be exchanged with Robert Beric, who was always wanted by Arsene Wenger in Arsenal.
NYT: I am speechless!
Beyond the convincing and undisputable victory of “Les Bleus” yesterday versus Brazil (3-0) in the soccer World Cup final in Moscow, a very peculiar and strange phenomenon was the centre of attention of many observers: no less than 6 of the newly crowned world champions were players from a medium and inauspicious French city: Saint-Etienne, the home of “Les Verts”.
This is a bigger number than Barcelona’s players playing for Spain in 2010, or Bayern Munich players playing for Germany in the 2014 Mannschaft! Six World champions are from “Les Verts”, the legendary popular team of central France! How could this be possible?
As World media are rushing to l’Etrat, our correspondant in France, Gilles Favard tries to explain that mystery for us.
GF: The Saint-Etienne team was going nowhere by the end of 2017, and was promised to a probable relegation to Ligue 2. Following my advise, the two presidents, Caiazzo and Romeyer, decided to spend their hard earned money on a few experienced players. It all started with Mathieu Debuchy. The right back defender had a very dull year in Arsenal, and was transferred for free for only 6 months to Forez! Many fans, such as the emblematic Faiseur de Tresses, were not favourable to his arrival, but something totally unexpected happened: he played like a God! He scored almost every game, and reached phenomenal statistics. Didier Deschamps, following my advise, had no choice but to take him in the list of 23, especially after the injury of Sidibe, the Monaco belly dancer. Debuchy became the official French right back from game one in Russia, and went to play until the Final! Icing on the cake, he scored the last goal of the competition!
NYT: OK, maybe one miracle can happen. But how about the others?
GF: Well, after that, it was all about the Goal Keeping. The main guy, who plays for Tottenham in England, and looks like Pierre Palmade, a not so famous French humourist, started to commit blunder after blunder. DD, the French coach, was crazily worried. On top of it, his protégé, the Marseillais Mandanda, was barely able to walk. He had no other choice therefore than to ask his friend Pierre Menes to call Stephane Ruffier, the green keeper, to accept to join back the French team. Deschamp was scared of Ruffier, but he was even more scared to be ridiculous in Russia. So Ruffier became the number one. And of course, scoring against France became virtually impossible, because Ruffier is a wall.
NYT: OK again, but how to explain another four World champions from this legendary team?
GF: Fate, I guess. The central defense was decimated. Koscielny, Rami, and Varanne managed to get injured in the different May European cups encounters. As they usually do. DD panicked and had no choice but to call back the experienced and solid Loic Perrin, who finally made it to the World Cup at the age of 31. His excellent end of season with the Greens, and the miraculous qualification to Europa League spoke in his favour of course. He controlled Neymar for 90 minutes.
NYT: Unbelievable! But how do you explain the presence of M’Vila in the list?
GF: As I always said, M’Vila is one of the most talented French midfielders. Maybe the most gifted. DD started to realise that his selection was full of mistakes, and after a long phone call with Jean-Louis, he decided to replace Tolisso, an over-rated young guy from Lyon, now playing in Germany, who used to be beaten up by his girl friend, by the solid M’Vila. What a hit! After the injury of Kante in quarter finals, M’Vila led les Bleus to the title!
NYT: And are you telling me that Cabella was a natural choice of course?
GF: I would not go so far, but DD, who by now was talking to me every day, started to lose faith in Lemar, the Monaco “espoir” who was simply ridiculous during the last game against PSG, and the show of Cabella during the last 5 games, and his final 9 goals played mightily for him.
NYT: Fine, but now, the presence of the young Bamba, does it make any sense at all?
GF: No of course, but this is the magic of football! When Martial, Dembele, Coman and Payet were the victims of this debilitating virus during the training camp in Tignes and forced to give up, nobody gave a chance to “Les Bleus”. Thanks God, FIFA authorised France to call back a few players. Bamba, as one promising player form the under 21 French national team, was the last one on the list. And he was lucky to replace M’Bappe in the final last 15 minutes, and so fortunate to pass the ball to Debuchy for the last goal, as he was so used to do in his club!
NYT: What a fairy tale! And now, what is the future for this amazing team?
GF: Well, the future seems bright. All the new stars of Les Verts have all signed fresh contracts, and thanks to the new Investor, the Saudi Sovereign Fund “Mecca Sport Venture” led by Mohammad Bin Salman, and determined to put an end to the domination of Qatar in French football, more great players are going to sign! It seems that Aubameyang will be exchanged with Robert Beric, who was always wanted by Arsene Wenger in Arsenal.
NYT: I am speechless!
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