Football Journey: August 2021

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

France the Cup

The Cup. The final, played on June 10^th, 1987, clashed again the prime movers of the season – Bordeax vs Marseille. And again Bordeaux won, scoring one goal in the first half and one in the second. Fargeon opened the result in the 14^th minute and in the 88^th Zlatko Vujovic scored – 2-0 and Bordeaux won the trophy.

Olympique Marseille ended the season empty-handed, as if confirming that they were not ready yet for success. But definitely coming back to prominence. Standing from left: Joseph-Antoine Bell, Jacky Bonnevay, Thierry Laurey, Jean-François Domergue, Karlheinz Förster, Blaz Sliskovic
Front row: Jean-Louis Zanon, Christophe Galtier, Alain Giresse, Jean-Pierre Papin, Patrick Cubaynes.

This is not the squad of the final, but still the regular starters and perhaps showing why Marseille was not yet a winner – good core of players, but still in need of additional reinforcement.

Girondens de Bordeaux won the Cup and thus a double. That was their 3^rd Cup, but their first and so far only double. The best season Bordeaux ever had and it was fine peak of a strong team. A team so good, it had no trouble losing their long-time staple Alain Giresse to arch-rival Marseille just before the beginning of the season (as the photo of the previous summer shows). Battiston, Girard, Specht, Toure, Dropsy, Tigana, Lacombe, Ferreri, Vercruyse, Thouvenel, Rohr and the Yugoslav twins Zlatko and Zoran Vujovic – formidable team with depth and plenty of experience, but a bit on the aging side already, which was a problem for the future. Looked like the problem was recognized on time and the process of changing key players had began with Giresse, but it was still a question of how successful and smooth a transition could be, so let wait for the near future. Presently, Bordeaux enjoyed its finest moments.