2023-12-01 22:31:35
22 years later, the French U17 team can win its second world title against Germany this Saturday. After the disillusionment of 2019 (3rd place, beaten in the semi-finals by Brazil), it is now time for the 2023 generation which could be close to that of 2001, the last to have won the under-17 trophy for France.
At the time, the stars of the Bleuets were not called Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Anthony Le Tallec, the magnificent duo from the Le Havre training center. The first had finished as the best player and top scorer in the competition, with 9 goals, and was promised a resplendent future, like his teammates. But for most, what followed was undoubtedly less glorious than their campaign in Trinidad and Tobago.
Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Anthony Le Tallec: the inseparable ones
Both trained at Le Havre AC, Sinama-Pongolle and Le Tallec were inseparable. The two players were recruited the same year, in 2003, by Gérard Houllier’s Liverpool and are today cousins by marriage. Both won the 2005 Champions League with the Reds, but did not greatly participate in the European coronation. The Reunionese had only played a few parts of the match when the Breton played 73 minutes against Juventus led by a certain Lilian Thuram.
Aside from this nice interlude, the two players did not have the career that was promised to them following the U17 World Cup. Florent Sinama-Pongolle has experienced Spain (Recreativo Huelva, Atlético Madrid, Real Zaragoza), Portugal (Sporting), France (Saint-Étienne), Russia (Rostov), the United States (Chicago Fire), the Switzerland (Lausanne), Scotland (Dundee) but also Thailand (Chainat Hornbill). Before returning to his very first club, in Reunion, JS Saint-Pierroise, then retiring internationally. Since 2019, the native of Saint-Pierre has been a consultant for Canal +, specializing in the Premier League.
Anthony Le Tallec, too, has played in several clubs, especially in France. From a return to Le Havre to a freelance stint with US Orléans, via Saint-Étienne, Sochaux, Le Mans, Auxerre and Valenciennes before ending his career at FC Annecy, the Breton will have seen the country. Since 2021 and the end of his career at FC Annecy, with whom he moved up to National 1, Le Tallec is now assistant coach of the U17 section of the Haut-Savoie club.
Meghni did not become Zidane and opted for Algeria
Mourad Meghni, the new Zidane? The comparison was appropriate at the start of the 2000s, but the midfielder’s career did not live up to the comparison. “It was never enough for the journalists…” he explained to West France More than a year ago. After experiencing Serie A, the Qatari championship and a career change in futsal, Meghni is today the manager of a restaurant in the Paris region and continues to play football in the District. Kevin Jacmot moved away from football and closer to catering as well. He has been running a snack bar in Vaulx-en-Velin (Rhône) for ten years.
The Parisian titi Samuel Piètre also did not know glory but rather the amateur world. At the end of his contract with PSG in 2007, he only played two matches with the Rouge et Bleu. Now retrained as a barber, the former striker hopes to return to the world of football. “I keep in mind the desire to pass on my knowledge to apprentice footballers. Or ? When ? I don’t know yet, but I’ll come back to the green rectangle! », he explained toPSG media services, last February. Piètre remains the only Parisian titi U17 world champion but could be caught on Saturday by the young Yoram Zagué.
Markets, commerce… or even prison
If football fans have seen him in the goals of clubs like Rennes, Brighton, Toulon, Le Poiré-sur-Vie or even Lorient, Florian Chaigneau now spends his weekends on the Locminé market. The former Merlu kept in touch with football, coaching the US Montagnarde goalkeepers, but converted to a sales career.
Chaouki Ben Saada is a young retiree. After 2001, he stayed at SC Bastia for 7 years. After leaving for Nice, Lens, Arles, Troyes, the attacking midfielder made his comeback in Corsica in 2019 and retired last year. Passed by Naples and Benfica, Hassan Yebda was also an Algerian international at the same time as his colleague Mourad Meghini.
Julio Colombo, for his part, has had a unique journey. After moving to Montpellier, he experienced Mosson and then prison. In 2015, the central defender was sentenced to six years in prison during an anti-drug investigation against a network linked to the Calabrian mafia. In 2017, Colombo benefited from conditional release and is today responsible for the PSG Academy in Guadeloupe. Formerly of OM and Rennes but also teammate of Florian Thauvin at SC Bastia, Jacques Faty is also manager of a section of the PSG Academy, in Turkey.
Many have never really left football
Luigi Glombard, for his part, has not really left the world of football and is today referent of the women’s section of Échiré Saint-Gelais, in New Aquitaine. Gaël Maïa also remained a football lover. Left free by Bordeaux in 2005, he experienced the amateur world and even the Luxembourg league, before landing at AS Cozes (Charente-Maritime) where he is today a coach in Regional 2.
The Canary Emerse Faé knew OGC Nice after his time at FC Nantes. U17 world champion with the Bleuets, he subsequently preferred the Ivorian selection. Youth coach with the Aiglons, then the Clermont Foot reserve, he is today assistant coach to Jean Louis Gasset for the Ivory Coast but also main coach of the Elephants under 23. Hampered by injuries, Stephen Drouin ended his career very early and became coach of FC Métropole Troyenne. At the same time, the former ESTAC employee was also an interim delivery fitter.
Kevin Debris had a series of experiences in small Spanish clubs, but also played in the Ecuadorian championship, at Imbabur SC. Laurent Mohellebi, has not known anything other than amateur football between Istres, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Tirana in Albania and Atlético Baléares in Spain. Jérémy Berthod was promoted to the OL first team before joining Monaco then Auxerre. Today assistant coach of FC Villefranche Beaujolais, he is also a consultant for OL TV. Finally, Mickaël Fabre, Chaigneau’s understudy in 2001, has known various amateur clubs, but also Clermont Foot. He is today goalkeeper coach at Fréjus Saint-Raphaël in N2.
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