The great story feeds on little anecdotes, even when it comes to Ligue 2. For the first time in this championship, a full-back has scored 4 goals in a single game. It was Saturday night in Toulouse and the hero’s name is Joffrey Cuffaut. He plays at right-back and at Valenciennes. The 32-year-old was the main actor in a crazy 9-goal match and the 5-4 northerner victory in the Pink City. An achievement already in itself.
When Joffrey Cuffaut came out of his box, Toulouse were leading 2-1 after just 33 minutes. The 32-year-old struck for the first time in the 33rd minute allowing VA to come back to 2-2 at the break. Toulouse regained the advantage (58th) and Cuffaut, promoted captain of the evening, then carried out his festival with three cannon shots in a row: 63rd, 77th and 86th including two masterful free kicks. Boom, boom and reboum!
“Joffrey was captain and he scored four goals. He is always a very positive boy and very committed to his game. He has a heart. The team was in his image ”, relished after the match his trainer Olivier Guégan, notably spent by Ile-de-France (Viry-Châtillon, Lusitanos Saint-Maur and Paris FC) as a player. At the end of the evening, our colleagues from the Voix du Nord awarded the maximum score of 10 to the defender-scorer. Logic.
This is the first time for 13 years and a certain Steve Savidan that a player from Valenciennes has scored 4 goals in the same match (5-2 against Nantes in Ligue 1). This is the first time since 1973 that the same player has scored 4 goals for Toulouse. It is also the first time and a Metz-Orléans duel in August 2018 that the same player has scored 4 goals in a Ligue 2 match.
So far, 11 goals in 333 pro games
As for Cuffaut, who by definition is not a goalscorer, he had never scored more than 2 goals in a season. Since the start of his professional career, which began in 2006, he had scored a total of… 11 goals before this crazy night in Toulouse.
But who is this little-known boy? Ligue 1 hardly knows him. At 32 and despite an already long career of 14 seasons, Joffrey Cuffaut has mainly played in Ligue 2 in four different clubs. Originally from Oise, he started at his home in Beauvais (2006-2010). He joined Le Mans (2010-2013) when the Sarthe club collapsed economically. He relaunched in Nancy (2013-2018) where his discreet career but his reputation as a man and a reliable player pleased his coach Pablo Correa.
It was there that he discovered Ligue 1 too quickly when the Lorraine club entered it in 2016-2017. He was Correa’s most used player that year. However, his regularity did not prevent Nancy from being relegated and Cuffaut from returning to where he came from, in Ligue 2. After 146 games with Nancy, he joined Valenciennes in 2018. His record – 334 pro games – is rich in a the only French Ligue 2 title with Nancy in 2016. A loyal player, an obscure player in French professional football who finally comes to light.
Article original de: www.leparisien.fr
