WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FINAL : Pagliuca Stands Alone, Without Feeling of Luck : Soccer: Italy’s goalkeeper turns in a shutout, but it’s not good enough.

The victorious Brazilians were doing something closely resembling jumping jacks in the midfield, and several yards away, Italian goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was flat on the ground.

His teammates were respectful, letting him remain alone with his thoughts. Finally, a couple came over and comforted him. Forward Gianfranco Zola put an arm around Pagliuca.

How bittersweet could it get?

Pagliuca had not allowed a goal but lost the World Cup championship game when Brazil defeated Italy on Sunday on penalty kicks, 3-2, at the Rose Bowl. He did exactly what a goalkeeper is supposed to do--shut out the opposition.

Romario couldn’t score.

Neither did Bebeto.

Dunga, Branco, Cafu and Viola were unable to get it past Pagliuca.

For 120 minutes, there was nothing in the net.

It’s hard to get a grip on losing on penalty kicks, not exactly commonplace. The final game had never been decided by penalty kicks.

“This is a terrible emotion,” Pagliuca said.

But the goalkeeper with movie-star looks did not lash out against the use of penalty kicks. “It was right because that’s the rules,” he said.

After overtime and before the penalty kicks, his teammates gave him encouragement. Defender Luigi Apolloni hugged him, and in an immense show of class, Brazilian goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel walked over and hugged him before the penalty kicks. Perhaps Taffarel realized the injustice, a sentiment he expressed before the game.

Said Taffarel: “We are great friends. When we walked together toward the goal, we agreed that whichever team would persevere was predetermined to win the title.”

Somehow, Pagliuca and his teammates did not have the necessary feeling of luck about the unprecedented way to decide a championship.

“We played a good game, but we made too many mistakes,” Pagliuca said. “When it came to penalty kicks, you’ve just got to have a feeling.”

The pressure was on Pagliuca, even before he faced the first kick, because Italian defender Franco Baresi started the series by missing. But Pagliuca immediately put Italy back in it by making a save on Marcio Santos.

But Romario, Branco and Dunga scored, and the result was taken out of Pagliuca’s hands.

“We were not able to finish this game. We made too many mistakes,” Pagliuca said.

He got away with a major error himself in regulation. One of Brazil’s best opportunities came in the 76th minute when Pagliuca bobbled a 25-yard blast by midfielder Mauro Silva. But the ball bounced harmlessly off the post and disaster was averted.

Pagliuca, dramatically, kissed his own hand and patted the post.

For him, it was a tumultuous tournament from start to finish. The 27-year-old, who plays for Sampdoria of Genoa, was the first goalkeeper to be ejected from a World Cup game when he was given a red card for handling the ball out of the penalty area.

It came in the 21st minute against Norway in the first round, and Pagliuca was tossed and promptly suspended for two more games. And Italian Coach Arrigo Sacchi went with Luca Marchegiani for the second round and was criticized for going back to Pagliuca for the quarterfinals against Spain.

Marchegiani had been the starter during World Cup qualifying but lost his position when he committed two major errors in a 2-2 tie against Switzerland.

Pagliuca, a reserved and self-contained man, took over and was the starter through the rest of qualifying. He often has one stock phrase for the Italian media when asked about his performance, saying:

“You lot, judge for yourselves.”

As for Sunday?

Well, there’s not exactly much to criticize when a goalkeeper records a shutout and still loses.

That was Pagliuca’s lot.