People often let players who are on the less flamboyant side of the game slip their minds once their career is over. One such star was Just Fontaine!
The French sensation passed away just under a year ago at the age of 89, but while he may no longer be with us, his achievements in the beautiful game should always be cherished, never forgotten.
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What makes his achievements even more admirable is the fact that he accomplished so many iconic things in a relatively short career, one that lasted just under 10 years.
It all began for the man who was born in Marrakech, French Morocco, to a French father and a Spanish mother after he moved to Casablanca and began his amateur career at USM Casablanca in 1950.
OGC Nice then snatched up his services three years later. He would go on to score 52 goals in 83 appearances for the club that blessed him with the opportunity to taste first-team football. It was an opportunity he clutched tightly with both hands. He would go on to lead the club to its second Coupe de France triumph in 1954, two years after they had first won it. The very next season, he was part of the squad that became French champions by winning the league.
He then joined another French team, Stade de Reims, in 1956, where he would spend the remainder of his club career. This move would prove to be a fruitful one, considering he managed to net a staggering 145 goals in just 151 appearances for the side. He won three league titles as well as a French Cup with Les rouges et blancs and also led them to a European Cup final in 1959, ending as the competition's top scorer with 10 goals that season.
It was one of the highlights of his career, but perhaps not the biggest, with the player more known for what he achieved with his national team.
While France lost 5-2 to Brazil in the semi-finals of the 1958 World Cup, Fontaine was the tournament's top scorer with 13 strikes, and to this day he still holds the record for the most goals in a single WC tournament.
"That year, I scored 34 goals in 26 league matches, 10 goals in the French Cup – we managed the double – 13 goals at the World Cup, and I started scoring goals in the European Cup, a competition in which I finished top scorer with 10 goals. So, what else [could I do]?!" Fontaine said, per FIFA.
The talisman was perhaps a player way ahead of his time. These days, certain aspects are taken from other sports and incorporated into football to enhance player performance. A coach would perhaps look at basketball and how its players are able to achieve incredible feats, jumping into the air exceptionally high to reach the net, and try to replicate what they do in the gym so that players could have an advantage in aerial duels.
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The former USM Casablanca star once revealed that he played basketball in his younger days and used that edge he had gained through playing the sport by implementing it on the football pitch.
"I was fast but I wasn't the fastest. I was good in the air, but I wasn't the best. I could strike with both feet, but I wasn't the best. I had quality but I wasn't the best," he explained.
"One thing that greatly helped me, though, was the fact that I had played basketball in my youth. I played basketball and football. There's nothing better than basketball to lose your marker."
While evidently very prolific and ruthless in front of goal, video clips of the former attacker in his heyday show how that agility helped him run in behind defences, beat them to the ball when a cross was put into the box, and beat a defender with the ball at his feet. Some would even say he was a complete striker!
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