Ten years, ten years after the epic of US Quevilly in the French Cup, the memories remain intact for the main players. Fans like players. “What I want to remember is the human adventure, this desire to share this with a whole people, this communion that we had over three, four months, it went beyond football at that time.“, recalls with emotion Grégory Beaugrard, the Yellow and Black captain in 2012.
“We gave everything, but all together”
To arrive at this famous April 28, 2012, day of the final, the players of Régis Brouard have already had to get rid of Angers in the sixteenth finals of the Coupe de France. Angers then played in Ligue 2, USQ in National. Victory of the Yellow and Black 1-0. But the story will especially be written from the quarter-finals. And this shock against Marseille on March 20, 2012 at the Ornano stadium in Caen.
“I was put forward because I was made captain but in this group there were several of us speaking. We were all friends on and off the field. And on the field we gave everything but all together and that is perhaps what allowed us to achieve this feat“, adds Grégory Beaugrard.
The Yellow and Black defeated Marseille in extra time (3-2) with a goal from Ayina in the 117th minute. The Ornano stadium explodes with joy. “When we returned against Ligue 1. We never returned to the field, we knew that we had our chances, not many (laughs). We realized somewhere a dream that we dared not even imagine, especially after the whistle against Rennes in the semi-finals“, adds the captain. Because his team was propelled into the final by a masterful goal from Anthony Laup at 90 + 3.
A goal that everyone remembers even ten years later
In his house in Le Havre, Anthony Laup opens a closet. A framed poster where he scored his goal against Rennes on April 11, 2012, the 2-1 goal, the one that propelled his team to the final, at the Stade de France. “I don’t even know what I was looking at then. I don’t even know what I did anymore, I think I took my shirt off, I went all over the place, it was crazy“, recalls the striker of the yellow and black.
“Personally, it’s my best memory, even the memory of my career. I had the chance to take part in the whole adventure, in all the matches. All this remains unforgettable. Ten years after people are still talking about it, it’s still exceptional“, smiles Anthony Laup. “The last time we said that we were crazy (laughs), but we did something that remains exceptional for an amateur club“, he adds.
On April 28, 2012, USQ found themselves in the final of the Coupe de France, against Lyon. “For an amateur player, we talk about it between us sometimes, there are pro players who have already had a career of ten, fifteen years and who have never made the French Cup final. We played in front of 80,000 supporters“recalls Anthony Laup.
Fans with soccer balls in their eyes
“For me the best match was the one against Marseille, I remember this atmosphere. It was the first time I went to a big stadium (D’Ornano). The atmosphere was amazing. In addition, OM had won the League Cup, quarter-final of the Champions League against Bayern. It was not a small OM“, recalls Anthony Bosquet.
– Bradley de Souza
“I still have DVDs, I watch them often. And each time it’s the same emotion. Your heart is beating at 1000 an hour, it’s stress, limit you are in the place of the players“, recalls laughing Vanessa Bouché. The USQ is “a family passion above all“.”My brother was playing it and I was going to the locker room, I was still in the stroller“, she smiles.
This journey”it was a waking dream, you don’t believe it, it’s something, it provides something that you will surely never experience again“, she concludes. The fairy tale stopped in the final. But the story is still being told ten years later.