Italia 1990 in Memories

Cloudy days, waterlogged playing grounds, and the magical music background of pouring rain at night, a normal natural environment of an average Keralite during the World Cup season. In 1986, we were about to reach the Television age. Very few households had the magic box, though in black and white format. By 1990, we all joined with the colour generation, and no need to depend on one place, sometimes far off, to watch matches, we had enough options to watch. Monsoon is a privilege of Kerala but not supportive of sports events. Whether you are a believer or not, you have to pray for an uninterrupted power supply during rainy nights. If it goes, we could expect it back only by the next day.

We all joined together in one house and depending on each match, we changed our viewing places. It is the responsibility of the house owner to offer black tea, black coffee or lemon tea to the viewers, along with some snacks. The World Cup was in Italy and none of us was exposed much to the European League at that time. Yes, we were aware of teams like AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Liverpool etc., but not very familiar with the players like present day. We gathered information on players and their specialities from the newspapers, Sports Star, Sports World and regional publications that come up with special issues during the World Cup.

Maradona was a household name. The Dutch trio – Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard were familiar because of the 1988 Euro. The inaugural function of Italia was superb and still remains in our minds as colourful as those days. The tournament started with disappointments. The defending champion Argentina was bullied down by the African power of Cameroon.  In that match, we found our hero of the tournament in Roger Milla, the eternal dancer and excellent finisher. The performers of the 1986 World Cup were disappointers. Russia was really poor, Argentina though reached the final, did not deserve to be there, Belgium completely forgot their football of 1986, and Brazil was nowhere near a team of contenders. Some relief was there from unexpected sources such as Cameroon, Costa Rica, and Colombia, especially with the presence of golden-haired Valderrama and eccentric Higuita, some magical spells of emerging English youngster Paul Gascoigne, and the goal poaching abilities of Voeller and Klinsmann along with their mid-field general Lothar Matthaus. 

Italy had a wonderful team. They played like a well-oiled machine with effortless but well-knitted passing. The voices of commentators are still ringing in my ears with many Azzurri names ending with ‘ni’ sound –starting from Maldini to Agostini to De Napoli to Giannini to Dona Doni to one name in the forward line not ending with ‘ni’. Interestingly, their fluent passing football struggled to produce goals, especially when they're forward, Gian Luca Viali, ended up as a misfiring cannon. It forced the team to find alternatives in Salvatore Schillachi and later Roberto Baggio.

Italy’s flowing football was well supported by their traditional defence which was advanced with modern tactics. It was because of their rich options in the defence, they were enabled to go for attacking football. In defence, they had young Paulo Maldini, matured Franco Baresi, experienced Guiseppe Bergomi and adventurous Ricardo Ferri. It worked very well until they met the real threat in the Semi-Finals.

If Italy was known for its passing game, the Republic of Ireland was more versatile in its defence lineup. Still remember the display of Paul McGrath, the giant player who literally followed the instructions of Jack Charlton, the manager.

Cameroon made their debut by defeating the holding champions, Argentina. Their rugged display was very new and effective against the experienced teams who followed a particular pattern with prescribed tactics. Cameroon lost its sheen when they badly lost to the USSR for a 4-0 scoreline in the last match at the group level but moved to the second round as the winners of the group. They defeated Colombia in the second round and reached the quarterfinals to play against England. In the knockout rounds, they produced classy football with a high verve of speed and skills in attack and forced the world to accept the emergence of football from Africa. But, Cameroon of 1990 will be known for a different reason rather than their performance.

In football, everyone starts to consider the striker who passes the age of 30 as an old player and waits to listen to his retirement by the age of 34 to 36. In the World Cup team, the Cameroon team included a 38-year-old striker, much above the expected age limit. He played against Romania and scored 2 goals to rewrite the imagination of the world on age limits. But, Albert Roger Mooh Miller aka Roger Milla will be remembered for a different reason than his goal-scoring abilities. He will ever be remembered for his ‘post-goal celebrations’ in the corner point of the pitch. Then he will be remembered for punishing the adventures of the maverick goalkeeper of Colombia, Rene Higuita. Milla played a vital role in the quarterfinals by setting up goals for his team but did not score. He re-written his record by appearing in the 1994 World Cup in the United States and scored one goal at the age of 42.

The holding champion, Argentina, was just a mere shadow of its 1986 team but they had the god of football still with them. The inaugural match was not showing the right omen for them which they lost to Cameroon and lost their first-choice goalkeeper due to injury. In fact, the change of goalkeeper becomes a boon in disguise, Sergio Goycochea becomes the saviour of the struggling Argentinian team. His body saved more shots than his planned attempts to save, and Argentina surpassed the below-par Brazil in the second round, and killed (erstwhile) Yugoslavia, before they disintegrated, in the penalty shootout in the quarter-final. By that time, the god of football, Diago Maradona started pulling the strings in the midfield to push his team to a further level.

When Italy played against Argentina in the semi-final, the expectation of the host nation reached its zenith. They played a dominating football against Uruguay in the second round and the Republic of Ireland in the quarterfinals and defeated them with ease. On the other hand, Argentina struggled in all phases to reach the semi-finals. Until reaching semi, Diago Maradona was more than a god to Italians. Not because of his magical performance in the 1986 World Cup, it was because of his familiarity with the Italians, especially with the natives of Naples. He was a legend of Napoli, the underrated club of Sere A, which was lifted up to the top performers, by Maradona. He made them contenders and champions and transformed the football of Naples to a remarkable level. So, Italians knew that the presence of Maradona would make a difference in the contest and he was capable of producing some magic when it was required. Their apprehensions become true when he made a pinpointed pass to the striker Claudio Caniggia to head it over the goalkeeper Walter Zenga.

The goal was not enough to win the match but was more than enough to destroy many things in one go. Caniggia’s goal was the first one to reach into the net of Italy. It is the first goal and the only goal conceded by Walter Zenga in the entire tournament. He remained unbeatable in front of the post for more than 500 minutes and all were shattered by that one strike. It was just an equaliser but was enough to kill the self-belief of Azzurri. The goal also ended the fruitful relationship between Italians and Maradona. Overnight he came down from the status of Messiah to Judas and the media started witch-hunting on him. Italy could not turn the match around in the extra time and the game provided another opportunity for the Saviour of Argentina ‘Sergio Goycochea’ to become the hero of the World Cup by stopping Roberto Donadoni’s tie-breaker kick. Still, we remember the tears of Donadoni in the field.

In the second semi-final, England played against West Germany. England was a reasonably good, balanced team. They had Peter Shilton, the senior most player in this world cup, in the goal, Stuart Pearce, Neil Webb, Terry Butcher in the defence, Bryan Robson, Chris Waddle, John Barns in the midfield, Gary Lineker in the forward line and young dynamic Paul Gascoigne everywhere. Under the direction of manager Bobby Robson, they came out as the group winners from one of the most boring groups which included the Netherlands, Republic of Ireland and Egypt. Among all the four teams, only England managed one win to become the group winner.

In the second round, they defeated Belgium and continued the voyage by defeating Cameroon in a very hard game which extended to extra time. This brought them to a semi-final against Germany, a match which we remember for its toughness and defensive display. England succeeded in keeping the attacking duo, Voeller and Klinsmann, at bay. The speciality of the match was the dominant display produced by young Paul Gascoigne. He was everywhere in the field, marked the German attackers, produced pinpointed cross and intervened whenever the defence required support. The game ended in deadlock at the normal time with one goal each by Andreas Brehme and Gary Lineker respectively. Extra time failed to produce any goal and the game eventually moved towards a tie-breaker. This was supposed to be the greatest performance from the England team since the 1966 World Cup finals.

Germany won the cup by defeating Maradona’s Argentina with a solitary goal scored by Andreas Brehme. Germany was mechanical in their approach. They had the right players in the right places and had a fantastic tactician and manager in Franz Beckenbauer. He had Lother Matthaeus in the midfield, Andreas Brehme in centre defence and Klinsmann in the attack who all play together in Inter Milan. Rudi Voeller who was playing for another Italian club (AS Roma) added more firepower in the front. Apart from winning the cup, there is nothing much to keep in memory from the performance of Germany. They played with real sense and managed all games with confidence and desire. Only one incident will remain in the memory of the public which is not a pleasant one and will remain as a scar on the entire tournament. This happened in the pre-quarter match between Germany and Netherlands. The rivalry was there between the main players who were carried from their Italian league as well as spurred up by the defeat of West Germany in the semi-finals of  Euro 1988. During the match, German striker Rudi Voeller and Dutch midfielder Frank Rijkaard locked horns and ended up in racial abuse and saw red cards.

1990 World Cup become more significant after the tournament. Nobody expected that it would be the last World Cup in the Cold War period. Before the World Cup, there were strong signals on the changes about to happen in the geopolitical scenario. After the World Cup, just after a few months, the integration of Germany happened. The Berlin Wall collapsed and East and West Germany joined. The tragic exit of the USSR in the group stages of the tournament was an unknown signal for the demise of the Soviet Empire. At the end of Glasnost and Perestroika, the Soviet system was dissolved and the Soviets became independent republics. Before the next World Cup, the Eastern European region, which was under the influence of the Soviet Empire, started changing its appearance. The 1990 World Cup was the last one for Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia who appeared again in the 1998 World Cup in France as different nationalities. Russia made a weak entry in the 1994 World Cup but returned after the group stage. While watching the football World Cup, ideological leanings, especially in the region we belong, were visible.