France’s Just Fontaine, who scored record 13 goals at 1958 World Cup,
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French football legend Just Fontaine, the all-time top scorer in a single World Cup tournament, has died aged 89, his family said on Wednesday.
Fontaine netted 30 goals from 21 caps for France between 1953 and 1960, carrying Les Bleus to their first-ever semi-final at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.
He will forever be remembered for scoring 13 goals at that tournament, a remarkable feat that seems unlikely ever to be matched.
To this day, only three players have scored more World Cup goals than Fontaine, even though the Reims player appeared at just one tournament and played only six matches.
Lionel Messi matched his tally on Argentina’s recent run to glory in Qatar, but it took him five World Cups to get there.
That 1958 World Cup in Sweden is best remembered as the coming of age of a 17-year-old Pelé, who inspired Brazil to victory after netting a hat-trick in their 5-2 semi-final win over France.
However, it was a personal triumph for Fontaine, whose four-goal haul in the third-place play-off win over West Germany ensured he had scored in every game.
Part of a wonderful attacking trident alongside Roger Piantoni and Raymond Kopa, Fontaine might never have gone to Sweden at all.
Only injuries to Thadée Cisowski and his Reims teammate René Bliard saw him make the squad and then the starting line-up.
“It was only at the airport before leaving for Sweden that Paul Nicolas (part of the national team staff) and Albert Batteux (the France coach), who didn’t really want me, told me I would be playing as centre-forward,” Fontaine told AFP in 2013.
Only Germany’s Miroslav Klose (16),…
