At the request of a friend, talk about Cantona. There's not much to say about the player's club career, and from the nickname of Manchester United's king, it's not hard to imagine how successful he has been in the Premier League. On the contrary, his national team career has been discussed by the world. When I visited the forum, I was optimistic about topics such as "why did France abandon Cantona" or "If France reused Cantona, could it win the Hercules Cup".
So, the author will take Cantona's national team career as the main line and talk to you about this player.
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona was born on May 24, 1966 in the historic city of Marseille, France. Influenced by his father, Cantona embarked on a football career with AJ Auxerre. At that time, the coach of Auxerre, it was Guy Roux, who was influential in French football, who cultivated many young talents. It was under the vigorous training of Guy Roux that Cantona developed his skills.
Cantona, who plays as a striker, is not a pure finisher, but plays a very important role in organizing the attack, and is a typical organizational striker. Therefore, it is not just the goal statistics that can be used to measure the individual quality of Cantona and his contribution to the team.
As for this type of player, if you meet a coach who values you, it is naturally excellent. He played under the discerning Guy Roux and played extremely comfortably, and was named the best young player of the year in France by the authoritative media "French football", and was highly expected by the entire French football world. Everyone is looking forward to him succeeding Platini and becoming a superstar of French football.
However, before Cantona became a superstar, he exposed personality issues. During his time at Auxerre, he beat up his team-mate Bruno Martini. After leaving Auxerre, Cantona spiraled more and more out of control, causing a bunch of moths and offending the then coach of the French team and the French Football Federation.
It was because of the trivial matter of not getting a chance to play in the friendly match that Cantona used the obviously insulting word "" to describe the then coach of the French team, Henri Michel. You know, Henri Michel is not a cat or a dog, but a typical meritorious coach, who has led the team to win the Olympic men's football gold medal and led the team to the semi-finals of the World Cup, and is definitely an influential figure in French football. The result of Cantona's insult to Henri Michel is that he was not only banned by the French national team for a period of time, but also indirectly offended many French celebrities.
This punishment made Cantona a little more honest for a while. However, in 1991, Cantona relapsed into his old ways, and was suspended for one month by the French Football Federation because he was dissatisfied with the referee's decision during the game.
smashed the ball at the referee and was suspended for a month. To be honest, the punishment of the French Football Association has already given Cantona a lot of face. However, Cantona clearly doesn't think so. At the following press conference, he publicly rebuked the relevant staff of the French Football Federation, and also defined them as "fools". As you can imagine, the ban was extended by one month.
When things developed to this point, Cantona was basically in the French league, and basically couldn't get along. In an interview, he once revealed the idea of retiring. Fortunately, Platini and Houllier cherished Cantona's talent, not only persuaded Cantona to dismiss the idea of retiring, but also helped him contact football clubs in other countries......
In this way, Cantona said goodbye to Ligue 1 and went to England to play. And his first stop in England was Leeds United. It has to be said that Cantona is indeed a real talent, and with his help, Leeds United won the league title. But it didn't take long for Cantona to fall out with then-Leeds manager Wilkinson, which gave United the opportunity to poach.
After defecting to Manchester United, Cantona quickly became a key pawn in Ferguson's tactical system. And he did not live up to Ferguson's trust, leading Manchester United to dominate England and win the great name of Manchester United's king. Not only do the fans love him, but his teammates also believe him, even if he is as unruly as Keane, he is still convinced of Cantona. By any measure, Cantona is a big man at Manchester United.
Cantona's achievements at Manchester United have been recognised across European football. In the 1993 Ballon d'Or selection, Cantona ranked third, which is enough to prove his status. At that time, French football was in an embarrassing period of lack of success, and Cantona was once regarded as a savior.
However, Cantona did not save French football. Despite his individual performances, France failed to qualify for the World Cup in the United States due to the outrageous actions of his teammate Ginola......
Even so, French football has chosen to continue to trust Cantona. As evidence, after Jacques took over, Cantona not only continued to be the heart of the French team's attack, but also captained the French team under Jacques. Therefore, the claim that those Jacques used the knife on Cantona as soon as he took office is untenable. Yakai, that is the one who really trusted Cantona.
However, Cantona's performance under Jacques has clearly fallen short of expectations. During Eric Cantona's tenure as France captain, Jacquet's side suffered three consecutive 0-0 games in a row in European Championship qualifying.
If it was just a bad record, Cantona did something even more outrageous. He kicked fans in the Premier League and was banned for eight months. However, the French team still has to continue to play in the European Championship qualifiers, and Jacques has no choice but to set up a new core. And this new nucleus was Zidane, who was still quite young at the time. In other words, Zidane's opportunity to take the position was actually given to him by Cantona himself......
The French team, with Zidane as the new core, has become fluent in attack and has significantly improved its record. From Jacques's point of view, he will naturally build an offensive system around Zidane. This raises a new question: Theoretically, Cantona and Zidane are incompatible.
Both of these are playmakers at the core, both need a lot of possession and both like to play in the middle, so how does this make the coach arrange?
Seeing this, some friends may ask: If Jacques puts Cantona at the front as a striker and Zidane organizes the attack behind him, won't this solve the problem of coexistence? In any case, Cantona must be better than the likes of Givash, right?
Regarding this line of thinking, Jacques should have also considered it. However, Jacques himself apparently rejected this line of thinking. Because in his autobiography, he wrote that we don't have a real striker, Cantona himself is not, he can't and won't do it......
Since this road is not working, there may be a friend who will come up with a new idea for Cantona to replace Djokaef and operate behind the striker?
This idea is actually not feasible. Because of compatibility, it is not only the position on the field that can be considered, but also the style of the players. Djokaeff's style is fundamentally different from Cantona's. Don't look at Djokaeff as a two-striker, a midfielder, and an offensive midfielder who can play, but Djokaeff is not good at organization and does not eat the ball, but his scoring ability is particularly outstanding and he has won the French Golden Boot. In the days when Zidane was absent, such as the red card suspension stage of Zizou in the 98 World Cup, and the injury recovery stage of Zizou in the 02 World Cup, you just let Djokaeff organize the attack, and he couldn't organize it......
In addition, Cantona and Zinedine Zidane, they have played side by side. It's only two games, but you can see some problems. Their direct cooperation is very small, and there is no tacit understanding at all.
So, admit it, Cantona is theoretically not compatible with Zizou's. However, at this time, Jacques did not completely block the road to Cantona's return. According to Jacquet's autobiography, he asked Cantona personally: If the team really needs it, can he call Cantona back? And Cantona's response was also more positive, saying that as long as he still wants to play, it is possible.
So, who exactly blocked Cantona's path back to the French team? The answer is actually Cantona herself. It's hard to imagine that Cantona, who was already on the fringes of the French team at the time, was still playing against the wind, angrily spitting Deschamps as a water picker, claiming that players like Deschamps are all over the street.
Think about it, how much does Cantona look down on Deschamps to publicly say that players like Deschamps are all over the street? And the captain of the French team at that time happened to be Deschamps. As we all know, when the coach selects the players, the captain has a certain say.
The author will cite a few examples: Maradona's failure to participate in the 1978 World Cup is said to have been the suggestion of then Argentina captain Passarella; Romario's failure to participate in the 1998 World Cup was due to Dunga's opposition; Even a captain of Sorrin's calibration was able to keep Veron out of the 2006 World Cup.
Although Deschamps has a good personality, he has never been the kind of person who can smile back after being bullied. What's more, Cantona looks down on Deschamps so much in reality, Jacques will definitely muttered in his heart, if Cantona is recruited into the national team, then how will the Manchester United big man get along with Deschamps as the captain?
In theory, it is not compatible with Qizu, and he dares to look down on Deschamps in reality, this is Cantona. To put it mildly, the reason why the Manchester United big man was abandoned by the French team is purely because the player himself has ruined his future.