WORLD CUP USA ‘94: QUARTERFINALS : SOCCER / GRAHAME L. JONES : Coach Gambles, Hits the Jackpot
For Italy, it was yet another journey to the edge of the precipice and yet another last-minute escape.
And, just as it had been against Nigeria four days earlier, it was Roberto Baggio who rode to the rescue.
A goal by the ponytailed Juventus star in the 88th minute earned the Italians a deserved, albeit belabored, 2-1 victory over Spain on Saturday and a berth in the World Cup semifinals.
Baggio, who scored the tying goal in the 89th minute against the Nigerians and then the winner in overtime, again will be hailed from one end of Italy to the other for his heroics.
But it would be very wrong to suppose that this was a victory due to the brilliance of a single player. Italy had many heroes Saturday.
The first of them was the bald guy in sunglasses and a light blue shirt down by the Italian bench. Coach Arrigo Sacchi has survived a perilous trip through the soccer minefield during the last three weeks, but he has managed to stay one step ahead of disaster all the while.
On Saturday, he took several more risks by tinkering with his lineup for the umpteenth time.
He put goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca back in the nets for the first time since Pagliuca had been thrown out of the game against Norway on June 23. All Pagliuca did was come up with a couple of critical second-half saves when the Spanish appeared to be getting the upper hand.
He put Dino Baggio into the starting lineup after the midfielder had been used only as a substitute against Nigeria. All Dino did was score the opening goal with a rocketing first-half shot.
He put Roberto Signori on the bench, then sent him in for the second half. All Signori did was cause panic in the Spanish defense and provide the decisive final pass that resulted in Roberto Baggio’s game-winning goal.
Not a bad afternoon’s work for Sacchi, who continues to defy the odds and now is only two victories away from joining Vittorio Pozzo (1934, 1938) and Enzo Bearzot (1982) as coaches to win the World Cup for Italy.
Saturday’s game, played in front of 54,605 on a hot, muggy, overcast afternoon at Foxboro Stadium, never rose to any great heights. The first half, in particular, was a largely tedious affair whose lone bright spot was Dino Baggio’s goal.
The 1992 Italian Olympic team star was on both ends of the goal, initiating the play and finishing it. In perhaps Italy’s best passing move in five games, the ball was relayed from Dino Baggio to Roberto Baggio to Daniele Massaro and back to Dino Baggio to Roberto Donadoni to Dino Baggio, who fired a screwball past Spanish goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta.
Other than that, the opening 45 minutes was a stupefying exercise in futility.
Things brightened somewhat in the second half, especially after Spain had tied the score on midfielder Jose Luis Caminero’s shot that deflected off a defender and into the roof of the net.
That instigated a period of Spanish dominance, and Italy was somewhat fortunate to survive without giving up another goal. The Italians always had the numerical superiority because Spain was reluctant to commit too many players to the offense for fear of exposing itself to the counterattack.
Even so, Pagliuca was called on to make a desperate tackle in front of his goal to deny Julio Salinas a shot and, less than a minute later, tipped a fierce shot by Fernando Hierro over the crossbar.
With overtime looking inevitable, the Spanish pressed for the winner, but, as Coach Javier Clemente acknowledged afterward, they made the “lamentable mistake” of leaving their defense momentarily undermanned.
One moment was all it took as Signori and Roberto Baggio combined to end Spain’s World Cup.
Why did Italy win when many of the pundits had predicted a Spanish victory? Courage was one reason. Sacchi said his players were “exhausted” in the second half after their two-hour battle with Nigeria earlier in the week but endured to the end.
Luck was another reason. Hungarian referee Sandor Puhl either did not see or chose to ignore the elbow that Italian defender Mauro Tassotti used to break Spanish forward Luis Enrique’s nose during a penalty-box scuffle.
Tradition is a third reason. Italy is a three-time World Cup winner. Spain has never won the trophy.
History might well be on the Italians’ side in this tournament. They lost their opening game to Ireland, remember, and the last time they failed to win their opening game was in Spain in 1982.
That was the last year they won the World Cup.
