Alphabetical order sometimes does things well.
When Didier Deschamps slipped his name, last, at the time of listing the names of his attackers selected for the three games against Finland, Portugal and Sweden, it is as if he ended on a more personal note .
Certainly, by releasing the surname of "Marcus Thuram", the voice of the boss of the Blues did not let any emotion filter out.
But the coach was inevitably seen again in 1998 when he had embarked on the conquest of the world alongside Lilian, his father and friend, who became the record holder for the selections in Blue (142).
After his improbable but capital doubled in the semi-final against Croatia, on July 8, 1998, Thuram had explained to friends that he could "one day tell this story to Marcus, a year old, when he is old enough to understand.
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Marcus understood for a long time, but 22 years later, Deschamps offered him the opportunity to settle in his turn in the castle of Clairefontaine.
Hoping that the staff will have the delicacy not to make him sleep in the room which bears his father's name.
Because Marcus Thuram took time to get rid of the marking of his surname.
"That Marcus Thuram does the same thing as my son, it's great," notes Jean Djorkaeff, 48 caps between 1964 and 1972 and father of Youri Djorkaeff, also world champion.
It is not obvious, but it is due more to the qualities of the child than to the advice given by the father.
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His first call with the Blues, Marcus does not owe it to any cronyism.
Not exactly the Deschamps type.
No, just to his work which allowed him, after his first dribbles in Neuilly-sur-Seine, then in Boulogne-Billancourt, to start a straight progression, first in Sochaux (L2) then in Guingamp (L1) and now in the Bundesliga at Borussia Mönchengladbach where he discovered the Champions League.
And that's probably what Deschamps will tell him on Monday when he welcomes him to the castle.
The strength of Marcus Thuram is also to have first passed through the dependencies of French football, including its tricolor selections in young people, rather than its monuments.
"He marks and makes mark"
Sochaux and Guingamp, it was perfect to progress far from the fires of glory and the sun.
Difficult not to detect the paternal leg in these training choices.
It was better to grow up in the shade.
Because Marcus was far from being the most gifted of his generation.
In Sochaux, after a Gambardella Cup final lost to the youngster's AS Monaco… Mbappé, he looked like his father in offensive efficiency.
Which wasn't much of a compliment.
Only one achievement in 43 games ... But his will to progress and his altruism seduced Guingamp in 2017. His two Breton seasons convinced the leaders of Mönchengladbach to bet 12 million euros on him.
“In Germany, it's the next level,” notes Deschamps.
He scores and makes score.
It was time to see him.
It must please Tutu but it takes a second or third place.
"
Marcus Thuram owes his first name to the black activist Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), promoter of a return of the descendants of black slaves to Africa.
He inherited the same political conscience as his father.
The Mönchengladbach striker was also the first footballer in a major European championship to pose, after a goal, a knee to the ground, on May 31 in tribute to George Floyd, the 46-year-old African-American, killed by police officers a few days earlier in Minneapolis.
Among the Thuram, we also learned to use his name to say no.
