Article by John Manenti
With the resumption of international activity after the tragic events of the Second World War, the Rimet Cup also returns – which had therefore seen the 1942 and 1946 editions canceled – which, with the enlargement of the participating nations, it also varies its formula, abandoning the direct elimination system and replacing it with elimination rounds and then move on to Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Final …
This means, in the following decade in which the defensive organization still left much to be desired, to the full advantage of the attackers, being able to attend three editions – Brazil 1950, Switzerland 1954 and Sweden 1958 – in which the goals flourish in clusters, as evidenced by the average of 4 centers per game in 1950, even 5.38 four years later in Switzerland and 3.6 in the Scandinavian country, when one considers that after and until the recent demonstration held in Qatar, the average of 3 goals per game was no longer exceeded, with the negative primacy belonging to the Italia ’90 edition, which registers just 2.21.
In this context, which therefore allows a maximum of 6 races to be played compared to the 4 of the previous editions, the first to benefit from it is the Brazilian center forward Ademir da Guia, who scored 9 times in the event organized by his country (2 goals against Mexico, one against Yugoslavia, a set of four at the expense of Sweden and a brace against Spain …), so as to touch the “double digit” which, conversely, was surpassed four years later in Switzerland by the Hungarian champion Sandor Kocsis, who concludes the event with 11 centres (in just 5 games though, due to a rather strange formula, which makes him the first to have an average higher than two goals per game …), having scored 3 goals against South Korea, even 4 against West Germany (but in the preliminary round …), to then score two braces against Brazil and Uruguay …
The only negative note (and not insignificant …) of the two mentioned “Top Scorer” lies in the fact that both remain dry in the most important occasion, or the final match against Uruguay and West Germany again respectivelythus contributing to the non-affirmation of their national teams, big favorites on the eve of the 1950 and 1954 tournaments.
But sport, and football perhaps mostly, is like this and predictions are very often subverted, just like the destinies of the individual protagonists can vary in both directions (positive or negative) due to fortuitous events, which is what happens to the protagonist of our history todayfor which the 1958 World Championships in Sweden became an opportunity to fully enter the elite of the “Top Scorers“of every age …
Just Fontaine was born on August 18, 1933 in Marrakech, Moroccoat a time when the country was a French protectorate, son of a transalpine official at the Tobacco Monopoly and of a Spanish mother, dedicated to the care of her 7 children, which does not prevent the young man “Fair” to profitably follow the studies, together with the passion for football, for which his first idols of adolescence are Larbi Ben Barek, who established himself in France in the ranks of Olympique Marseille and Stade Français, and the Italian-French Mario Zatelli (another protagonist with Marseille …), as both have been members of USD Marocaine, a club with which Fontaine made his professional debut in 1950 at the age of just 17.
And that the young man has “confidence with the goal” proves it since its first releases, since in the three years in which he wears its colors he regularly goes to “double digit” contributing to the conquest of the 1952 North African Championship title and, above all, scoring 62 goals in just 48 games playedas if to say that there is more than enough for the transalpine clubs to lay their eyes on, and in particular the aforementioned Zatelli, who in the meantime has become coach of Nice, so that in the summer of 1953 the barely 20-year-old Just lands on the French Riviera …
And even the impact with the new reality doesn’t scare Fontaine, who scored 17 and 20 goals in his first two seasons at Nice, as well as winning the 1954 Coupe de Franceto then be forced to provide a marginal contribution (just 17 appearances with 5 goals) to the conquest of the 1956 Division1 title having to submit to military obligations, but his performances did not go unnoticed enough to deserve the attention of the Stade de Reims – Club leader in the transalpine panorama of the period – who bought it the following summer and with whom he lived the best period of his competitive activity.
Stade de Reims he had seen leave, attracted by Real Madrid’s Spanish pesetas, its star Raymond Kopabut soon his place among the fans was taken by Fontaine who, being able to benefit from the simultaneous presence in the team of companions of the caliber of Robert Jonquet, Roger Piantoni and Jean Vincentcan only improve his scoring averages, as his own certifies first season concluded with 30 goals in 31 games played, second in the Scorers’ Chart only to Cisowski of Racing de Paris, who scores 33 times …
But it is in the next that the 25-year-old Fontaine lives his “Year of Glory”, as he sees it contribute with 34 goals to the conquest by a large margin of the Division 1 title and, on a personal level, the palm of top scorer, an affirmation which the Coupe de France joins by beating Nimes 3-1 in the Finalso that even the coach of the transalpine national team, Albert Batteux can’t help but select him in view of the next World Championships in Sweden.
To tell the truth, the relationship with the “Blues” had not been up until then exciting for Fontaine, despite the fact that on his debut in mid-December 1953 he scored a hat-trick in the comfortable 8-0 at the expense of modest Luxembourghaving then been excluded – also due to the recalled call to arms – from the qualifying matches for the World Championship which see France score 19 goals, with Cisowski star performer with 5 goals, including a “pokerissimo” in the decisive victory by 6-3 against Belgium …
But the Polish-born striker – on three occasions Division 1 top scorer in 1956 (31 goals), 1957 (33) and 1959 with 30 – was injured during the second round, so as to offer Fontaine (who had only scored once in the other friendly matches played with the national team …) an opportunity not to be missed in the away match in Scandinavia which sees France included in Group 2 together with Yugoslavia, Scotland and Paraguay with the debut set for June 8, 1958 in Norrkoping against the South Americans.
Deployed to center of an attack that can also count on the contribution of Kopafresh from having won the 1957 and 1958 editions of the European Cup with Real, Fontaine wets his debut at the World Cup by scoring three times, contributing to the final 7-3 which should not be misledas Paraguay had twice taken the lead (1-0 and 3-2 at the start of the second half …) before crashing down in the last half hour, a “alarm bell” that France did not fully understand being defeated 2-3 by Yugoslavia in the second match, decided by Veselinovic 2′ from the end, after Fontaine, with his shotgun, had restored parity, except then to guarantee the qualification with the 2-1 over Scotland (with Fontaine still scoring …) as well as first place in the Group as in the direct confrontation with Paraguay Yugoslavia does not go beyond the draw for 3-3 so as to come second for a worse goal difference …
The 6 goals scored during the qualifying round already pose Fontaine tops the Top Scorers, with the closest rival being German Helmut Rahn (the Hero of the “Miracle of Bern” four years before …) with four goals, but the first place in the Group allows the France to face Northern Ireland in the quarter-finals (which had eliminated Italy in the qualifiers …), match that Wisnieski breaks the deadlock at the end of the first half with the transalpines spreading until the final 4-0 in the second half, “score” to which Fontaine contributes a bracewhile it’s up to Piantoni to put the definitive seal, so that the Stade de Reims striker extends to 8 goals, even though Rahn scores the only goal that decides the match against Yugoslavia.
Access to semi-finals represents France’s best result at the World Cup up to thenonly now an insurmountable obstacle stands in the way, namely Brazil desperate for its first Rimet Cup triumph and who, in the painful 1-0 victory over Wales in the Quarterfinals, showed the qualities of a little boy not yet 18 years old destined to become a “icon” of international football, we are of course talking about Pele, who repeats his show against the transalpines by signing a hat-trick in the second half to provide the score with its definitive frame of 5-2, after Fontaine had deceived his teammates equalizing after 9′ of the game the South American advantage signed at the start by Vavà …
In the meantime, the Swedish hosts manage to defeat the reigning champions of West Germany by recovering the initial disadvantage for a 3-1 which bears the signatures of the three “Italians” Skoglund, Gren and Hamrin (even if Gren had returned to play in his homeland …), so that, as a tasty appetizer for the Final scheduled for 29 June 1958, here is on the eve of France and West Germany take the field for the platonic third placebut also with the top scorer of the tournament up for grabs, even though the advantage of the French attacker (9 goals to 5) over Rahn is difficult to fill …
At any rate, to dispel any doubts in this regard, Fontaine takes care of it who, in a “goal festival”, he signs as many as four (against only one of the German rival …) in the final 6-3 which allows the “Blues” to conquer a placement that will prove to be the best in the history of the event for a good 40 years, i.e. until the triumph in the 1998 edition held in Italy, while the 13 goals of his main striker represent a record still unmatched in a single edition of the World Championship Reviewwith an average of over 2 goals per game.
At the conclusion of a season in which, between club and national team, Fontaine “allowed” himself to score something like 53 goals in just 41 matches playedthe attacker does not stop, given that he is also the protagonist in the next one, when he scores 24 times in the Championship and, above all, he is protagonist in the Champions Cup, a tournament in which he is top scorer with 10 goals (among which the brace in the 3-0 win over Standard Liège stands out to overturn the 0-2 of the first leg …), and which sees Stade de Reims reach the Final for the second time in their history, only to be defeated again (0-2) dal Real Madrid …
An authentic “goal machine”Fointaine also faces the next Tournament he sees Reims champion again and him top scorer for the second time ahead of Cisowski (28 goals to 27) despite the fact that on 20 March 1960, in a game clash with Sekou Touré of Sochuax, he suffered a double fracture in his left leg which ultimately jeopardizes the continuation of his career, which ended two years later at the age of only 29, with a total of 226 hits in just 248 Championship races played.
And since the serious injury does not allow Fontaine to provide his contribution to the qualifications for the Finals of the 1962 World Cup in Chile – with France failing to access, defeated 0-1 by Bulgaria in the play-off – the legitimate question remains whether the same, currently fourth in the “All-time ranking” for goals scored in the Rassegna, he could vice versa find at the top of the same, given that it is commanded by the German Miroslav Klose with 16 goals, but in 24 games played …
But, perhaps, Andriy Shevchenko’s wise consideration also applies to Fontaine, when he claims that “Calcium sometimes it takes, sometimes it gives…!!”