WORLD CUP USA ‘94: SEMIFINALS : The Dream Teams: Italy-Brazil : This Time, Baggio Works Magic Early Against Bulgaria
As Italy’s little prince stood at the corner of the end zone Wednesday, arms outstretched, 70,000 voices roaring through his braid, a piece of fabric gently floated from the crowd to his feet.
It was a flag.
A U.S. flag.
And so America claimed Roberto Baggio as its own, embracing him with blown kisses, waves and directions to Pasadena after he had led Italy to a 2-1 victory over Bulgaria in the World Cup semifinals at Giants Stadium.
We know a good thing when we see it. Baggio, the world’s most exciting athlete who doesn’t wear high-tops, sold us Wednesday with two goals in five minutes in the first half.
On the first goal in the 21st minute, he bounced off one defender, stepped around another, then hit a 20-yard shot past a third.
Moments later, he broke free from a pack of defenders, took a pass and knocked a 12-yard shot into the far corner of the net.
“Roberto Baggio,” forward Gianfranco Zola said, “is a treasure for our nation.”
On his day, Baggio even threw in a sentimental ending.
As the game’s final minutes ticked away, he stood on the sideline, hands folded and touching his lips as if meditating.
Upon the final whistle, he began crying.
He wept as he buried his face into the chest of taller Dino Baggio. He wept as he hugged teammate Demetrio Albertini and the other Baggio at the same time.
He fell into the arms of Italian soccer legend Luigi Riva and continued crying as he hobbled off the field.
Before he crossed the end line, though, he broke away from the embrace and looked up in the crowd, nearly all of the 77,094 still at their seats, all waiting for him.
He raised his hands. They stood and cheered.
A part of him belongs to us, now. Once he arrives in town for the World Cup final Sunday at the Rose Bowl against Brazil, we might not let him go.
“This is my work, this is my life,” Baggio said when asked about his postgame scene. “It is made of sweat and tears.”
And pain. After his second goal had given the Italians a 2-0 lead, the Bulgarians made him pay.
In the 30th minute, he was pushed around by Zlatko Iankov and suffered a strained hamstring.
Six minutes later, he was hit in the mouth by Trifon Ivanov’s shoulder and suffered a broken tooth.
He eventually limped off the field in the 71st minute. But no matter what you hear in the next four days, believe that he will be back for the championship.
In its fifth title game, Italy has a chance to become the first nation to win four world championships. So does Brazil. Baggio has a chance to add to a streak of five goals in the last three elimination-round games.
Bulgaria flies to LAX with a different agenda. After failing to win in their first 17 World Cup games, the Bulgarians find themselves playing for third place on Saturday against Sweden.
They are happy but not overjoyed, not after feeling they were victims of two calls by referee Joel Quiniou.
They said that Costacurta hit a ball with his hand in the penalty area in the 70th minute, yet it wasn’t called.
And they said that Yordan Letchkov was fouled by Roberto Mussi in the penalty area in the 90th minute.
Neither call was really questionable, but they weren’t buying.
Stoitchkov, who played an indifferent game, scoring his goal on a penalty kick in the 44th minute, was asked if he stood by his earlier quote that God was a Bulgarian.
“God is a Bulgarian, but the referee is French,” he said. “This match proved the refereeing in this World Cup has been the worst in the history of the world.”
Baggio and Albertini made Bulgaria’s defense look like the worst in the world during a stretch of the first half when they could have scored four goals.
It started with Baggio’s first goal, after a throw-in from Roberto Donadoni. Baggio shrugged off would-be tackler Iankov, hopped over Petar Houbtchev, and shot past paralyzed Ivanov.
Four minutes later Albertini hit the left post. Seconds after that, Albertini’s chip shot was barely knocked over the net by goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov.
Then Baggio scored his second goal, on a perfectly chipped pass from Albertini.
The Italians only gave up a goal later because of a foolish push by Alessandro Costacurta and dive by goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca, who caused Nasko Sirakov to tumble in the penalty area. Result: Stoitchkov’s kick.
That the Bulgarians didn’t even come close to scoring in the second half is a tribute to an Italian defense that has turned up the level of its play.
Not that this victory was enough. The curse of being Italy is that nothing but a world championship will ever be enough.
“The hardest part for us is just starting,” said Roberto Baggio, who then hobbled to the team bus.
But before boarding he was grabbed in the parking lot by wide-eyed Bulgarian forward Petar Alexandrov.
A fight? No, a memory.
Alexandrov handed his camera to a friend, nervously put his arm around the little prince, and asked his friend to snap.
