I played in the 1998 World Cup final, became a Newcastle and Rangers cult hero, now I sell swimming pools
Stephane Guivarc'h is still haunted by the 1998 World Cup final, but that’s not why he’s now selling swimming pools.
The former striker did in fact win that tournament with France, defeating Brazil 3-0 thanks to a Zinedine Zidane masterclass, but he still can’t fathom how he lost his scoring touch in the biggest game of his career.
With a strike rate that would terrify any defence, the now 53-year-old has looked back on a season where he went from unstoppable to completely blunted.
Leaving Auxerre for Rennes in 1996, Guivarc’h would become Ligue 1’s top scorer, and was bought straight back by Auxerre where he would repeat the feat in back-to-back seasons.
Registering 21 in the league, he notched 37 in all competitions, making his selection for France at their home 1998 tournament a no-brainer.
However, in his one and only tournament for Les Bleus, the striker went scoreless in his six games, passing the burden onto Zidane and Thierry Henry.
«It still haunts me today, you think about it constantly,” Guivarc’h told RMC Sport.
“It's a World Cup, it's in France, you score 37 times in the season and that day you have square feet.”
“This is what makes football so charming! Lilian [Thuram], he has not scored a goal in his career and in the semi-final he scored with his right foot and his left foot!”
Trying to explain why things didn’t work, he continued: “You don't have anyone in the wings, so it's more complicated.
“It's not the same pattern that I had at Auxerre, where I had two machines to cross and where it was enough to be present at the first or second post. There was less effort to be made in running.”
Guivarc’h played 66 minutes in a dominant win for ten-man France against Brazil in the final, and despite never scoring, was
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