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World Cup USA 94, (Italy vs. Spain)There is not much I can say regarding Italy's match against Spain;
other then I saw it in “Bar Napoli" in the company of those who had
been there for Italy's previous match and the already known fact that
we won 2-1. Naturally as with any quarterfinal match, this one was not
without its great moments which saw cheers from us; Italy's ever
faithful “tifossi". The first of which coming at the 25 minute mark
when a long range effort from Dino Baggio found the back of the Spanish
net and put us ahead 1-0, which was also the score that ended the
opening half. The second half started as one can expect with
Spain, the team that was loosing going forward and eventually getting
an equalizer from Caminero; 58 minutes in to the match, when his shoot
bounced off Costcurta and past Pagliuca (back after a two game
suspension) and in to the net. Italy however was not going to be denied
or at least not on that day as with two minutes remaining Signori
(Lazio) managed to flick the ball over to Roberto Baggio, who found
himself in a one on one situation with Spanish goalkeeper, Zubizarreta.
We all held our breath's at that moment for we knew Baggio could score
but just the same we needed to see him do it. Baggio took the ball with
his right foot and went by Zubizarreta but perhaps opened himself too
wide of the goal and just as it seemed he had no angle to shoot from;
what should happen, as we the fans in Bar Napoli watched in total
anxiety? Baggio while falling down manages to get a shot off that
barely filtered past Spanish defender Abelardo (sliding in to prevent a
goal) and in to the back of the net; sending Italian fans everywhere in
to a wild celebration along with ear bursting screams of “goal". We
were winning by 2-1 and that is how it would end though before the end
of the match; AC Milan's Tassoti would get himself an eight match
suspension for breaking the nose of Spanish forward Luis Enrrique.
Italy had had its problems but what mattered to us; its fans was that
we had won and would be going to the semifinal. All of which meaning
that if worse came to worse; Italy would end up being among the top
four teams in the world for the 5th time in the last seven world cups,
though we were hoping for best coming to best which would have meant
becoming champs for the 2nd time in the last four world cups. Italy
was in the semifinal, so the question was who would join them and I
must say I expected it to be Germany, which would have set up another
semifinal between Italy and Germany as had been the case in Mexico 70.
Naturally with such a big match as would have been Italy vs. Germany in
the semifinal; my chances of getting a ticket seemed limited to say the
least, specially given my lack of funds at the time. Italy vs.
Germany would be a great match and though the German's were the
defending champions, it was clear to see that four years had passed by
and those same players who had won the title in Italia 90 were only the
same in name but by no means in form. Germany had gotten through to the
quarterfinals more on their name and the fear it brought on other
teams, not to mention a penalty which should have been called for
Belgium but was not. This being the case for Germany while for
Bulgaria; it was one of them having won their first match in a world
cup after having played in five previous editions. Bulgaria in
that world cup; after a bad start in which they lost their first match
3-0 against Nigeria went on to win their first ever match in a world
cup by beating Greece 4-0. It was this first victory that saw the
Bulgarians and above all Stoickov; go from strength to strength. As
they would go on to beat Argentina 2-0 and then Mexico; in penalties in
the round of 16 to get to where they were in a position to play Germany
for the right to be in the semifinal. Germany on that day
started well, going up 1-0 in the scoreboard when after 47 minutes,
their captain; Mattaus put them a head, with a well taken penalty.
Bulgaria, however had not come so far just to give up after one goal
and it only took them 18 minutes to level the score at one a piece,
when a brilliantly struck free kick by Stoickov found the back of the
German net. Germany was in for a battle and it would get worse as three
minutes later Bulgaria's always solid defender Leckov put away a header
in the back of the German net to make the score 2-1 in Bulgaria's
favor. Germany were now loosing and though they had made many come
backs in the past, this would not be one of them; as perhaps lack of
motivation or age did not allow them to be the German team of old but
regardless of anything Bulgaria was through to the semifinals. They
were the ones who would be playing against “La squadra Azurri" and not
Germany, as many so called experts had predicated. As for the
other semifinal match; it would be Sweden against Brazil, with these
two teams meeting both for the second time in USA 94 (first game ending
1-1) and the sixth time in the world cup. This second figure still
being in fact the record for the most times two teams have faced each
other in the world cup. I for my part could imagine that Brazil; after
a hard fought match would beat Sweden but then again it might be the
Swedes to pull of an upset and reach the final but before that could
happen they would have to beat Brazil for the first time in a world
cup. By then I had become a regular, not only in Bar Napoli
but in “Little Italy" where I was known in every bar and restaurant, as
I had just about seen a match in every one of them, however I will
never forget the opportunity that was presented to me two days before
Italy's semifinal encounter against Bulgaria. It happened while I was
sitting outside one of these very places, waiting for my beer that a
lady I knew approached me asking if I wanted to buy a ticket for
Italy's semifinal match. The answer was clear that I wanted the ticket
she claimed to have but was almost sure that her asking price would be
beyond my means so I asked more from curiosity then with intensions of
buying how much she wanted for the ticket? She though this I do not
recall the exact amount mentioned a price which almost shocked me, as
it was well within what I could afford and even had on me at the time.
I naturally said “yes" with a huge smile on my face and just as I was
about to reach for my wallet; this lady informed me that she did not
have the ticket on her but could go and get it in less then ten
minutes. I must confess to have been very enthusiastic at that
point and just as she was about to go I asked her what kind of seats
they were and if they were not too high up; as I might have problems
with blood coming out of my nose if they were. Perhaps, it was this bit
of American humor which this lady from Naples did not really understand
that made her in a slightly annoyed fashion tell me that such could
only be the case if the height in question were above several thousand
meters. This joke obviously not translating well in to Italian. As
I waited on this hot day, I started pondering the reason that she was
selling tickets to the semifinals so cheaply and even came up with some
ideas that perhaps what she was offering was not “the real McCoy" so to
speak. This was after all a world cup semifinal and though I had heard
of a case back in Chile 62, where as few as 8,000 fans attended the
semifinal between Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, it struck me as odd
that she would be offering this ticket for so little and that one was
available at such a late stage. I, however did not have long to
consider the matter because just as I was waiting; a man came by from
the Belgium football federation who offered me not only a better ticket
but one that was even cheaper at 90 USD. I, being one not to waste such
chances took out my money as fast as my hand could get to my wallet and
paid the man 90 bucks; who handed me the ticket which I kept for many a
year or at least till I gave it to the owner of San Lorenzo in Warsaw.
This the Italian restaurant where this ticket currently finds itself
decorating the wall of. I was overjoyed to have this ticket
which had all the signs of being the genuine article, like the ones I
had bought before but still I wondered how come this man was selling a
ticket that on it had a face value of 200 USD for 90, this not even
being half; so I asked. The answer I got was one which I recommend all
those who are fans of football to never forget; as it will be useful to
them in the future to get cheap tickets to big games and it was as
follows. This man told me that many Germans bought tickets when they
found out that Germany would be playing the semifinal in Giant's
Stadium but when it turned out that their team lost; a lot of them,
thousands to be precise decided it would be preferable to sell their
tickets. This I imagined because they had probably purchased their
tickets with the sole intension of seeing Germany in the semifinal, for
the game in and of itself they could watch on TV.Second of all;
I also figured that the German's who had made the trip over to America
just to watch the world cup were probably staying in hotels, which they
would no longer have to pay for if they simply sold their tickets at
what ever price they could get, even if at a loss and just hopped the
plane back home. I, however do not think the situation would have been
so desperate; for instance when both Italy and Germany failed to
qualify to the finals in the world cups played in their countries as
those fans were probably not looking to get back home but I can see it
as being similar. The moral however one can deduce from this is that
when two great teams are expected to meet in a match and one of those
teams is eliminated before; it usually leaves a lot of desperate fans
seeking to sell tickets, which for the most part should make the price
go down, as there would be no sense in anybody buying those tickets
after the game, unless they wanted a souvenir. Furthermore regarding
this matter, I could add that this is probably what would have happened
in 2002 if Brazil had lost to Turkey in their semifinal match, which
would have meant a final between Germany and Turkey. As
expected however the lady who had first offered me a ticket came back
and was disappointed to see that I had bought another one from someone
else but did understand that the opportunity had presented itself and
she, of course could always sell her ticket to another fan. I, however
for my part was thrilled I would be seeing “La Squadra Azurri" playing
in the semifinal of the world cup and all I could think of was, first
buying a large Italian flag, (bigger then the one I already had) and
then showing my ticket to all those at my favorite pizzeria in
Brooklyn. I even made up my mind to give them the Italian flag I
already had as a present since I was planning on getting a bigger one. Life,
I must say was beautiful at that moment (like the name of that film
with Roberto Bennini) and as I sat in Little Italy, now sipping my
beer, I heard to gentlemen at a table next to me speaking Spanish. This
prompting me to ask them in Spanish, where they were from and telling
them that though I was Italian American, I did speak Spanish because my
mother was from South America. As it turned out that these two
gentlemen were from Ecuador, and it was with great enthusiasm that I
told them I was going to be watching Italy vs. Bulgaria live, while
they told me they had seen Germany vs. Bulgaria live. We went on to
talk about other things though for the most part given that we met
during a world cup limited ourselves to football, touching upon such
topics as the recent killing of Escobar, which all of us without
hesitation condemned as well as the cartels in Colombia. One of these
men telling me that one of the cartels had bet in favor of Colombia
while the other against. All creating a tense situation and as we also
agreed upon, a team needs to have a 100% concentration in a world cup
and be playing at its best to have any chance of winning, with me
adding that even when a team was doing that; things would still be
difficult. In this most pleasant conversation, I also remember
telling these two gents that during my 1984 visit to Ecuador I had met
the famous “Vito Munoz", with whom I had a very interesting
conversation, naturally about football as he was and still is a very
well known local sports commentator. I, for my part got to ask one
question, which I had been waiting for a long time to ask somebody from
Ecuador, which was why Ecuador had never managed to qualify to a world
cup? After all I had been in their country, where I had seen many
Ecuadorians playing football; both on a professional level and even on
the streets and they definitely were not bad at the sport but quit the
contrary. I even remarked how Barcelona (a team from Guayaquil, not to
be confused with the one from Spain going by the same name) had made it
to the final of the “Copa Libertadores" in 1990; eliminating Brazilian
and Argentine teams on their way. Additionally to my question,
I added the comment that if, for instance Venezuela did not qualify to
the world cup; the answer was simply that they stunk at the game, and
this I say not to offend anybody from this country but because it is
true. I mean lets face, baseball is their sport, not football. My
question and comments actually made both men laugh as it was one that
not only had been raised by many foreigners but several Ecuadorians
themselves however this they could not answer and it was with good
wishes that we parted company as I headed to my favorite pizzeria in
Brooklyn. |
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