SOCCER / GRAHAME L. JONES : WORLD CUP USA ‘94: SEMIFINALS : Italy Shows Grace, Bulgaria Loses Charm

“After the match is when you do the analysis,” Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoitchkov said.

Well, it can hardly be done beforehand, can it?

But then, the Bulgarians got just about everything backward on Wednesday, losing to Italy, 2-1, and seldom looking anything like the team that had beaten Argentina and Germany on its way to the World Cup semifinals.

Where the Italians were quick, the Bulgarians were slow. Where the Italians were inventive, the Bulgarians were uncomplicated. Where the Italians were daring, the Bulgarians were dull.

Both teams are now headed for Pasadena, but one will be playing in a largely meaningless third-place game Saturday and the other will be playing for the Cup on Sunday.

After a 12-year wait, Italy is back in the World Cup final. Only one member of this Italian team--defender and captain Franco Baresi--was on Italy’s 1982 World Cup-winning squad. And back then Baresi was a reserve.

Now, even though he is recovering from an injury and diagnostic surgery only three weeks ago, Baresi could be called on to step onto the greatest soccer stage of all and play in the final.

If he does, it will be a fitting climax to a marvelous international career. But that’s another story.

The reason Italian Coach Arrigo Sacchi might be forced to play Baresi is that central defender Alessandro Costacurta made the biggest mistake of his career Wednesday, fouling Stoitchkov and earning a second yellow card that will keep him out of the final.

It was virtually the only serious error the Italians made on an afternoon when they entertained a Giants Stadium crowd of 77,094 with what was unquestionably their best performance of the tournament.

Led, not surprisingly, by Roberto Baggio, Italy was unstoppable during one 10-minute spell midway through the first half. That’s when Baggio scored his two goals and had the fans tossing flags at him in delight.

The Bulgarians, whose defense had been one of the team’s strongpoints, had no answer for Baggio, who danced past both Zlatko Iankov and Petar Houbtchev before slotting the ball past goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov for his first goal.

On his second, he simply outran the defense and fired a superb pass from Demetrio Albertini beyond Mihaylov’s reach.

Just like that it was 2-0 and the game was, for all intents and purposes, over.

Italy’s performances had been sporadic during its first five games, with occasional touches of inspiration surrounded by hours of plodding play. Beset by injuries and suspensions, the Azzurri seemed incapable of 90 minutes of coherent soccer.

All that changed Wednesday. With Baggio and the unheralded Pierluigi Casiraghi playing as twin strikers up front and the midfield of Nicola Berti, Albertini, Dino Baggio and Roberto Donadoni winning the majority of its battles, the Italians were in command from the start.

Albertini was especially effective. He started by probing the Bulgarian defense for weaknesses with long passes into the penalty area, then, after Baggio had given Italy the lead, began firing a few shots himself. The first of these could easily have found the net.

Antonio Benarrivo, whose excellent play at left back has made him one of the discoveries of this tournament, started the move when he dribbled past Ilian Kiriakov on the left wing and crossed to Roberto Baggio, who played the ball back into the path of Albertini.

Albertini unleashed a fierce shot that slammed into the right post before being cleared. Seconds later, Albertini fired another stinging shot that Mihaylov did well to tip over the crossbar.

This span of excellence was climaxed by Roberto Baggio’s second goal. From then on, it was simply a matter of playing out the last hour. The game’s quality dropped perceptibly, especially after Stoitchkov had cut Bulgaria’s deficit in half.

There was nothing worth noting in the second 45 minutes. Bulgaria did not have the talent to pierce Italy’s back four of Roberto Mussi, Costacurta, Paolo Maldini and Benarrivo, and goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was seldom troubled.

The Bulgarians later complained that referee Joel Quiniou of France had twice denied them penalty kicks and was perhaps biased against Bulgaria. The claims were ludicrous and served only to impugn the reputation of a capable and experienced official.

Italy was the better team and Italy is in the final.

“After the match is when you do the analysis,” Stoitchkov said.

But all he did was complain.