“As I left them, I said to them: “Okay, guys, see you next time… Well, I don’t think so.” »
The emotion is immense because for the 30-year-old footballer, the French team has long been a distant horizon. Trained in Lyon, passed through Gueugnon, Bastia, Monaco and Marseille, where he established himself, sometimes intermittently, as a good Ligue 1 defender, energetic and committed, Jurietti, although an international hopeful twice under Raymond Domenech, did not was not one of those we imagined so highly. Especially not at 30.
Jurietti traces the thread of his career. “In 1997, I was called up to the France A’ team with Martin Djetou for example, we were at the door of the A’s but we came across a crazy generation, that of France 98. Then in Monaco, between 2000 and 2002, I’m having two shitty seasons. The post-2000 French championship title was complicated for the club and we hit new players, like Ousmane Dabo. I got a little lost by going to the casino too much, I was often injured and with Claude Puel, it didn’t go very well. Then, I was loaned to OM, then when I returned to Monaco, I found myself in competition with Patrice Evra. Deschamps put me in the complete closet. I love Deschamps the coach, while the coach had shortcomings. It was his debut, he lacked something to manage the players on a daily basis. In 2003, five minutes from the end of the transfer window, I signed for Bordeaux and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. »
In October 2005, the whirlwind of magical emotions will last until late at night. “You congratulate yourself, you think you’re someone else, it’s magnificent. After meeting all my family at the hotel, including my mother who told me she saw me beaming when I walked onto the lawn, we left to tour the Grand Dukes in Paris. All the players were partying and I was still on cloud nine. »
His enchanted parenthesis, in a career already well underway, will last another month. Domenech summons Jurietti again for the two friendly matches in November, the first in Martinique against Costa Rica (3-2), the second against Germany (0-0). “It was a beautiful trip, to Martinique, cooler and more relaxed. What made me laugh was the tension between Grégory Coupet, super strong, and Fabien Barthez, back in the selection. Seats were assigned on the plane and they were both next to each other. So, I took Barthez’s place…”
What didn’t make Jurietti smile was not being able to honor a second cape. Recovered, Gaël Givet, who became his friend and to whom he has continued to say thank you since, starts at left back and William Gallas, on the right, against Costa Rica. “I then think that Domenech will play me but the match scenarios decide otherwise. »
The wind has just turned. It becomes downright contrary when Jurietti begins to suffer from pubalgia at the beginning of January. A race against time begins.
“I didn’t have surgery to save time. But in the end, the pain didn’t go away and I wasn’t able to play again until the end of April. But it was too late and Domenech then pulled Pascal Chimbonda out of his hat for the World Cup. The timing was shocking but he was one of the best in his position in England. Me, because I was injured, I didn’t deserve to be on the list. The regret, without bitter taste, is having experienced only one serious injury in sixteen years of career, at the wrong time. Otherwise, I would have had to do the 2006 World Cup. Then I knew I wouldn’t come back. You don’t plan on a Euro two years later with a 32 year old. »
