AS Saint-Etienne : when Bosz and Dupraz were teammates in Toulon | ASSE News

OL receive Saint-Etienne this Friday at Groupama Stadium at the start of the 22nd day of Ligue 1. The occasion for a reunion between Peter Bosz and Pascal Dupraz. Former teammates in Toulon, the two coaches face each other as rivals on the benches of Les Gones and Les Verts for the 124th Rhone derby. For RMC Sport, Rolland Courbis delivers the memories of this 1988-1989 season when he had the two men under his command.

Football sometimes gives rise to beautiful reunions between players and their former team during a duel rich in emotions. Sometimes also, two ex-teammates find themselves opposite each other on the pitch. The case of Peter Bosz and Pascal Dupraz is a little less frequent. Partners in the Sporting Club de Toulon jersey during the 1988-1989 season, the two men will fight a big battle from the bench this Friday during the 124th derby between Lyon and Saint-Etienne. Unlike the most vehement supporters, the two coaches appreciate each other and have kept in touch after their common adventure in the Var. But during the 22nd day of Ligue 1, they will not give each other a gift.

“I don’t know if OL are in difficulty, it’s not my onions. I know that I really appreciate the coach, he was my partner in Toulon, launched Pascal Dupraz on the eve of the meeting. We saw each other again afterwards when he was training in the Netherlands when I was sporting director. I always enjoy meeting him. I will enjoy meeting him. But hey… if he can be disappointed in the end of the match, it will suit me well.”

Bosz, a “really nice” player for Dupraz

Arrived in 1987 in Toulon, Pascal Dupraz stayed there for two seasons. The current coach of the Greens was therefore able to welcome the Dutchman when he arrived in France. For his first experience away from the Netherlands, Peter Bosz adapted perfectly to the Var city and finally kept a good command of French after his three years in France.

“What memories of Peter Bosz? Someone charming. He was a boy who learned French very quickly at the time. A very good player, tough, good technically. And then really nice. I always had fun seeing him again, confided the Saint-Etienne coach about his future opponent. He also gave me a lot of advice when I was in my little club. I tried to be ingenious as we didn’t have a lot of money and when I needed information about a Dutch player I called Peter. He always gave me good information. I never recruited Dutch people but Danes who played in the Netherlands. There he hooked me up.”

Two players with different but complementary styles

Reunited in the Toulon jersey, Pascal Dupraz and Peter Bosz will obtain an 11th place in D1 and will go out with the honors of the Coupe de France against Jean-Pierre Papin’s OM, future winner. In their own way and with their own style, the two friends helped the Var team in its honorable season.

“We had a locker room with a very good atmosphere, remembers Rolland Courbis, who trained the two players at Sporting. the Var and in a place where we talk more about rugby than football.”

And the consultant RMC Sport then details the players who were the two current coaches of Lyon and Saint-Etienne at the time: “Pascal Dupraz was a number ten or number eleven, a kind of fake left winger with a good left paw, deciphers their former trainer on the shores of the Mediterranean. And Peter Bosz was the strict, clear, clean and efficient guy. He didn’t add to it, didn’t make any gri-gri. At Dupraz we sometimes had a few feints or outsides. They were totally different.”

Two strong characters at the service of the team

Despite two diametrically opposed styles of play, Peter Bosz and Pascal Dupraz shared a strong desire to win and both had a nice sense of dedication to Sporting. The Toulon club then had a solid reputation in France as a team that was hard to maneuver and above all hard to move with players ready to fight hard. Within this collective, already well versed in off-road pressing, the two players were both voluntary and generous in their efforts. “Without being great players, they were good Ligue 1 players,” said Courbis. Duty players.

And the former coach of Toulon, Bordeaux or OM to specify: “It was important to see the behavior of a player in training and not only in matches. Pascal Dupraz and Peter Bosz were among the serious players , Rolland Courbis still remembers. We had a good atmosphere, a good atmosphere. […] They were among the players with whom we could predict things collectively. That is not always the case.”

An “evidence” to see them train

Each in their own style and after a long playing career, Pascal Dupraz and Peter Bosz then became coaches. Opponent for one evening this Friday, the two technicians seemed destined to one day take their place on a bench.

“I am not surprised today to have seen that their career evolved towards the coaching profession after having been a player. Given the passion that they were, the opposite would have surprised me, explains Coach Courbis. they hadn’t made coaches, I would have been surprised.” The member of the Dream Team RMC Sport even sees the retraining of his two former Toulon proteges “as obvious”.

Woe to the loser in the derby?

But now, this Friday the coaches of Lyon and Saint-Etienne will have to put aside their friendship. Only eleventh in Ligue 1, OL must absolutely win against ASSE in order to get back into the race for Europe. With a sword of Damocles over his head, Peter Bosz must have a string of successes by the end of February in order to satisfy Jean-Michel Aulas.

Opposite, Pascal Dupraz also finds himself in a critical situation with the Greens. Last in L1 with six lengths behind the first non-relegation player, ASSE has just had six consecutive losses in the top flight.

“Everyone has their problems, they are two coaches with different problems to solve, concludes Rolland Courbis. […] This Friday Lyon is in a logical position of favorite and cannot afford any draw against ASSE. Saint-Etienne would do a feat by drawing at Lyon.”

A new rout in the derby risks dealing a heavy blow in view of the maintenance for Saint-Etienne. On the contrary, a good performance by the Greens would hurt Les Gones. If a draw would not help anyone from an accounting point of view, it would allow the two former teammates Peter Bosz and Pascal Dupraz to leave good friends.

Jean-Guy Lebreton with EJ