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World Cup legend Just Fontaine Dies at Age 89

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Former French international footballer Just Fontaine poses in front of a trophy commemorating the top-scoring record at the 1958 World Cup.

Former French international footballer Just Fontaine poses in front of a trophy commemorating the top-scoring record at the 1958 World Cup. Copyright AFP

By: AP

Just Fontaine’s Stade de Reims, and the French soccer association confirmed Fontaine’s death on Tuesday. The French star had scored 259 goals in 283 club matches.

Fontaine scored 13 goals at the World Cup, a record. It took Fontaine six games to accomplish his feat in 1958 at the tournament in Sweden. This was shortly after he won a French League and French Cup Double for his team.

Didier Deschamps, France’s coach, said: “Justo has been and will continue to be a legend for the French team.”

Fontaine, a Moroccan-born forward, was little-known outside of France’s top league when he entered the World Cup. He tormented his opponents with his speed, finishing touch and even using someone else’s boot. He had to borrow a set of cleats when he damaged his own boots during practice.

Fontaine scored four goals against West Germany in the third place game, but he could have had five had he taken the penalty kick.

Fontaine, who played for USM Casablanca and Nice, won the French Cup four times and reached the finals of the 1959 European Cup.

Fontaine served as chairman of the French Players’ Union for a few decades after he retired. Fontaine briefly coached the France national team, before stints at Luchon, Paris Saint-Germain and Toulouse, as well as the Moroccan national football team.

Paris Saint-Germain released a statement saying that “a French football icon passed away, and would like to pay homage to the man who guided them to the First Division some 50 years ago.” PSG was referring to Fontaine, who led the club to the top division after a playoff victory in 1974.

The French soccer federation announced that tributes to Fontaine would take place in France this weekend. A “minute of homage,” will also be observed Wednesday before French Cup matches at Toulouse, Marseille, and Nantes.

The death of Just Fontaine has plunged French soccer into deep emotions and immense sadness, said Philippe Diallo. “He was an iconic figure, with his incredible 13 goals at 1958 World Cup. He wrote “one of the most beautiful chapters in the history of France’s national team.”

In 213 games, Fontaine scored 200 goals. He scored 30 goals for France in 21 games

Fontaine’s career ended abruptly when he was 28. The Frenchman, known for his lightning speed and ruthless finish, suffered a horrific leg fracture in March 1960 after a mistimed tackle.

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Milan, Tammy Abraham sheds light on her future

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Tammy Abraham punished Inter again in the derby first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal. After the decisive goal in Riyad with which he gave the Super Cup to the Rossoneri, the English striker found the goal of the momentary lead with the Nerazzurri, who tied the score with Calhanoglu.

“I am really happy for the goal for me and for the team– Abraham said in the press conference. “Then we didn&#8217t win, so we are not happy and we have to fight for the next game, being positive, knowing that we are a good team”.

Then the’ex-Roma spoke about his future: “I do not know my future now. Milan is a great club, very passionate. I want to fight until the end for this club. Staying does not depend only on me”.

“It is a difficult season for everyone. We have other games though, every game is a final. There are always ups and downs. I would have liked to score more but the season is not over. There are 11 games to fight for. We want to play in Europe. We want to try to win the Italian Cup” Abraham concluded.

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Lewis Hamilton, disqualification behind: “Immediately looked ahead”

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Lewis Hamilton spoke at a press conference on the eve of the Japanese Grand Prix, scheduled for the weekend. “I heard some people say some nonsense – he began – like I would be losing faith in the team. I can say I believe 100% in this team, obviously there was a huge hype at the beginning of the year, probably a lot of people expected us to win right away, starting from the first race, but that was not what I expected.”

“I’m coming into a new culture, a new team, and it’s going to take time – added the British driver. “I’ve spent the last couple of months just observing how the team works compared to the other two I’ve worked in before. During the past week I have been able to take notes and point out areas where I think we can improve, and this process will continue throughout the year as we learn more and more from each other”.

Then he came back to the disqualification in China: “In general during a race you always avoid areas of the asphalt where there are bumps, in Shanghai at the exit of turn 13 the bottom was not touching the asphalt, there was not even rebound or anything like that, so I had no warning. Regarding disqualifications, we all know that all these single-seaters are set to the limit in every parameter, personally I didn&#8221t feel any frustration when I was made aware of it. It is what it is”.

“We immediately looked ahead, I was in Maranello on Wednesday and learned a lot. I would say the most impressive thing was seeing how the team worked, how they processed the data and how we worked ahead of this weekend, that is the most important thing” Hamilton concluded.

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Jannik Sinner, Riccardo Piatti name 4 names for post-Darren Cahill

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Riccardo Piatti, former coach of Jannik Sinner, gave a lengthy interview to Corriere della Sera in which he spoke about his former pupil with whom he parted ways more than three years ago: “When I finished with Jannik I admit I had a few months of daze, then I went toward what I like: teaching tennis. The Piatti Center is not a supermarket: you go through a growth process here. I did that myself. It was a mental click, priorities changed but tennis remains at the top of my thoughts. Now I chase kids” dreams.

“Everyone remembers the match with Daniel, in Melbourne, in January 2022, when he said: ‘be calm, ca**o’ – continued the Italian coach -. He was mad at me for court stuff, it had happened before: it is normal dynamic between coach and player. That is not the problem. I always wanted Jannik to become independent, I knew he would leave one day. But with him I had to be the strict, sometimes rigid coach: that was my role. Ljubicic scolds me that I used to tell him: you decide, Ivan, but then you do as I say. For Jannik, this penalty, at one point, was too much to handle”.

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Then he mentioned a few names for the post-Darren Cahill, who will leave the’Alto Adige at the end of the season: “Carlos Moya, who I had already considered. He has been No. 1, he knows the circuit. Humanly he is a very good person, like Darren. Renzo Furlan, now that he stopped with Paolini, is free. Ljubicic is very good. Or Becker, whom we had contacted; however, working with Boris is more complicated. The names are these”.

Closing on the return of the world number one, expected at the Internazionali d’Italia: “He will be strong right away. I really believe he can make the Grand Slam this year. The suspension has extended his life: he will arrive at the end of the season fresh. You play too much, mentally you never stop. He will come back energized and motivated. He always has been. In the pandemic many took advantage of it by not training, Gasquet in the doping stop gained eight pounds, Jannik did not lose a day. He knows perfectly well where he wants to go”.

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