It doesn’t get any more real than this. All those stories you hear about teams gathering together and rallying at the last moment are don't only live in dreams. It’s easy to forget that, but what you are about to see will drive that point home.
Toulouse FC found themselves in 17th place going into the last week of the Ligue 1 season. They were tied on 37 points, but ahead on goal differential, with 18th place GFC Ajaccio and ahead of 19th place Stade Reims by a point. Toulouse held the fate of their season in their hands: beat Angers FC and stay up, all they needed to do was go out and do it.
Toulouse’s form in the lead up to their last match was pretty good. They had won 4 of their last 9 games, but head coach Pascal Dupraz didn’t want to let team morale be dictated by a mere 4-3-2 run. He wanted passion, he wanted heroic effort, and that’s what he inspired with his pre-game speech before Toulouse match against Angers.
Holy shit, guys. And I do specifically mean men because the sight of grown men crying will always hit home for me. These are athletes, bred to compete and be tough (yes, they’re mostly French but stay with me here) and they are breaking down into tears by the end of the video. The momentary silence before Dupraz makes his final call to action is so loaded that if you cut it with a knife it would let out an overwhelmed cry. It was a moment so perfect it had to lead to victory.
And then the game happened and shit hit the fan. Angers scored against Toulouse FC just 12 minutes into the match. Toulouse responded by missing a penalty kick, equalizing in the second half, and then giving up a goal four minutes after equalizing.
Down 2-1, Toulouse — ok, you really just need to watch the highlights right now:
Down 2-1, Toulouse were in danger of throwing everything away. Their 4-3-2 run, trivialized. Dupraz’ pre-game speech, meaningless. Any feel good moment, any chance at being a hero, gone and gone. But then Toulouse stepped up.
Right-back Pavle Ninkov whipped in a cross from so far out that it might as well have been a corner. Center Forward Wissam Ben Yedder fought for it but missed. Martin Braithwaite crashed in behind Ben Yedder and got a touch on the ball. It bounced once, twice, and went in off the post. It was a garbage can of a goal compared to the one it equalized, but Toulouse didn’t care. They were back in it.
Just two minutes later the miracle came to a climax. I don’t know if Yann Bodiger had Pascal Dupraz’s speech running through his head as he lined-up a free-kick in the 80th minute, but g*** d*** I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t think so. Bodiger bent it in to the near post and made the game 3-2, a lead that Toulouse would never relinquish.
The scenes after the match were glorious. There were tears, celebrations, and players walking around just trying to drink it all in. Their season was saved, and I'm sure they couldn't quite believe it.
Photo: YouTube
Sport doesn’t get any better than this.
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