The USA ran the spectacular well … but the final was a disappointment
SOCCER: Ray Nxumalo
WHAT an anti-climax the World Cup final, featuring Brazil and Italy, turned out to be! Both teams were too rigid and the game was a tight encounter with few flashes of brilliance.
Which is why the matter was settled in the most unceremonious way; a penalty shootout for the first time in the World Cup final. The encounter had been heralded as a dream final featuring two countries where football is elevated to something of a national religion. Many soccer fans justifiably must have felt disappointed.
The goalless 120 minutes was a yawn; the penalty shootout a disgrace, particularly for Italy’s unfit duo of captain Franco Baresi and playmaker Roberto Baggio. Both ballooned their spot-kicks way over Claudio Taffarel’s goal.
Brazilians everywhere, in Rio, Pasadena and Johannesburg, exploded into a frenzy of wild joy! Back home in Rome, Italian fans kicked themselves in disbelief and vented their frustration in the form of raw anger with violence spilling into the streets. The South Americans entered the record books by annexing the most prestigious prize in sport for the fourth time.
Boy, am I going to miss those great late nights! Talk about USA ’94 will engage us in taxis, bars, pubs and in the streets for quite a while — maybe until 1998 when France gets to stage the spectacle.
For a whole month, we battled to stay awake in front of the television sets. Throughout, players stretched their muscles for all and sundry to pass their uninformed and unintelligent judgments. Soccer lovers moaned when soccer world governing body Fifa granted the United States the staging rights. “Americans don’t care about soccer,” “The tournament will be a flop,” they grumbled.
Statistics contradict such cynicism. More people watched the event than any other and no game was under-attended. Also, there were more goals scored than in Italia ’90 and Mexico ’86 combined. Many players who played four years ago showed a sense of maturity, but none more so that the darling of the Italians — the ever-impressive Roberto Baggio.
Save for that unfortunate spot-kick in the final, Baggio was a revelation. He has been blessed as “The Messiah”, the saviour who pulled the Azzuri from the brink of defeat. Baggio saved Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi his job, with a last-minute goal against the Nigerian Super Eagles.
His unmistakable ponytail is described as divine and pop star Madonna is reportedly bonkers about Baggio. Buddhist that he is, Baggio seems to have strict control and discipline in his life.
What a pity the soccer gods were not on the side of the player declared the best footballer on the planet!
If the gods seemed to shun Baggio, they smiled on the dimunitive Brazilian genius Romario, who seldom set a foot wrong in his nation’s progress to claiming the coveted cup.
The nippy, nimble-footed Brazilian had earlier boasted that the team that wins the cup is “one with a better striker”. His impeccable spot-kick in the final must surely have elevated him to that pinnacle.
Even when his powerful header rocked the Swedish net in the semis, Romario was not overcome with excitement and wild celebration. He triumphantly raised his arms as to say “The world is mine”. I would tend to agree with that observation for, indeed, Romario rules and is still basking in the glory.
But it his striking partner Bebeto who seems to do most of the spadework. Romario cherished his somewhat second-fiddlish role so much so that he is quoted as saying: “My strength is that a lot of people think I’m just sleeping.”
Even coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, whom Romario had publicly insulted as a “stupid fool” recognises the measure of greatness in his star striker. “Romario is a genius,” Parreira enthused.
Even the legendary Pele, who also openly criticised Romario’s attitude and questioned his commitment to the game rated the bow-legged dynamo as the best striker.
“When he gets the ball, he’s very dangerous,” Pele said. “He finds space and he’s very quick.”
Another star player of the tournament was Romanian old horse, Gheorghe Hagi. He has a knack of making good keepers look very foolish in goals. Remember the clever lob with that sweet left foot of his that sent pre- tournament second favourites Colombia tumbling out of the show?
The African hope, Rachidi Yekini, could have been another top marksman had the green-kitted Super Eagles not been plagued by internal problems – – injuries, indiscipline, suspensions and bitter quarrels involving their Dutch coach Clemens Westerhoff.
The Indomitable Lions also had their unfair share of the continent’s endemic administrative problems with financial incentives and interference from politicians. The continent had worthy representatives but the glaring lesson must be that football must not be a game for politicians.
The clash between Italy and Nigeria must have taught the Africans — and everybody for that matter — that the match is not over until the referee blows his final whistle. With only two minutes remaining and glory beckoning the Africans, the Super Eagles started knocking the ball around and played to the gallery. In the townships, such play is called “carpet- football” and you seldom win games playing like that.
Then there were the gallant gladiators of Bulgaria: the team with the unfashionably funny names all ending in “V”: Letchkov, Stoitchkov, Ivanov, Balakov, Kiriakov, Kostadinov. They must have all gone home gracious in defeat and coach Demitri Penev will be something of a folk- hero in Bucharest.
Their feats, considering the quality of opposition they upset (1986 champions and 1990 finalists Argentina in the last 16 and defending champions Germany in the quarter-finals), place them high among the top teams of the tournament.
If any heads should have rolled, it should have been the referees’. Their rigidity and strict application of the rules of the game stifled the free-flow, finesse and flair warranted by such a grand stage.
Equally disturbing was the attitude of the British commentators on TV. It is an understatement that they were overly-patronising. That cynicism was crystallised by Allan Hansen, former Liverpool captain, who criticised an Argentinian defender: “With defending like that, he deserved to be shot.” That was the most arrogant and compassionless comment of the tournament and the BBC promptly apologised.
Such Eurocentric condescension and colonialistic prejudice seemed to flow out every time a team from so-called developing or Third World country played one from Europe.
Despite the occasional mishaps, for a whole month peoples of the world joined hands and enjoyed a global spectacle in what US president Bill Clinton called “the unity of people throughout the globe”.