It's been a few days, we know, but there are many of us who can't go a few days (maybe hours) without thinking of Roberto Baggio. 

Today, we wheel out the wonderful tribute piece James McGhie wrote last week to mark Il Divin Codino's 50th...

Football; it has this funny way of making you feel old whilst tricking you into thinking it was only yesterday that your heroes last graced the pitch. The year was 1994, the tournament was the World Cup finals in the USA. 

 

Many football writers use this tournament to write a tale of woe, the story of the failed hero, a tale of tragedy that befell a footballing icon. Not me, I’d rather write about Roberto Baggio by talking about USA 94 for exactly what it was to me; the tale of one man who became the saviour of a nation as, time and again, he dragged Italy to the brink of World Cup glory when elimination looked the more likely outcome.

 

Back then I was a 15 year old boy, in love with the Italian game and in awe of the Divine Ponytail; the one and only, Roberto Baggio. Football in the early 90’s, especially in Italy, remains a golden era to this now 37 year old who, despite knowing better, has remained for the best part that same wide eyed 15 year old, even if those eyes now gaze upon the game with a lot more experience and touch more cynicism. 

 

Nostalgia has a lot to answer for. Whether it’s dress sense, music, food, or even footballers; time can blur reality and memories are recalled via tinted spectacles, but the one thing that time cannot dull is the sheer brilliance of Baggio, and today we celebrate the greatest player, in my opinion, to pull on the Azzurri shirt as he turns 50; see, I told you football had a way of making you feel old.

 

Roberto Baggio is remembered for many things; the controversial move from Fiorentina to Juventus, the fact he played for arguably the top three clubs in Italy during a glittering career, and even his heroics in saving Brescia from relegation and having the No.10 jersey retired from their squad. Amazing achievements, and yet it feels like upon hearing his name, many people instantly refer to that penalty kick. Let me set the record straight right now; Baggio is far more than just a missed penalty kick and to this Calico lover, it’s the last thing that enters my mind when I think of Italy’s greatest No.10.

 

Italia 90 was a fantastic spectacle for football fans across the world, who could forget Baggio’s wonderful solo effort against Czechoslovakia to secure a 2-0 win en route to winning Group A? It’s one of Baggio’s finest moments in an Italy jersey, the drop of the shoulder, the swivel of the hips, defenders put on their backsides before Baggio cooly picks his spot; utterly sublime football. 

 

However, USA 94 remains the World Cup which captivated me; it seems bizarre, a lover of Italian football who prefers, for lack of a better word, 1994’s tournament to that of 1990. Perhaps I was just a little too young to appreciate it fully, but USA 94’s atmosphere, borderline carnival at times, is something that in my mind no World Cup since has managed to replicate. Nostalgia? Perhaps, but the fact remains it was on that particular stage where Baggio became an idol to me. 

 

One year prior, Baggio had secured the 1993 World and European Player of the Year, and rightly so, winning the later with 142 out of 150 points; 30 goals scored in all competitions for Juventus and 5 for the Italian national side with 39 goals scored across all competitions for the calendar year. 

 

Now, purists may argue that Baggio did nothing during the group stage as Italy struggled to qualify in a group consisting of Mexico, Republic of Ireland, and Norway and indeed it would be another Baggio, Dino, who would get the Azzurri’s campaign off and running with the winning goal on match day two against Norway, Italy having been shocked by Ray Houghton’s winner in their opening group clash. 

 

Match day three saw Italy draw 1-1 with Mexico, finishing the group in 3rd place thanks to then Milan forward Daniele Massaro; Italy snuck through by the skin of their teeth as one of the four best 3rd placed sides. In fact, Group E of USA 94 remains the only group in World Cup history where all four sides finished on the same number of points.

 

July 5th, Foxboro Stadium, Massachusetts. Nigeria vs Italy; Baggio comes to life.

 

Trailing 1-0 and with just two minutes remaining, Italy’s big game player awoke from his slumber, cooly slotting home from the edge of the penalty area to take the game into extra time after some fantastic play on the right wing by Roberto Mussi.

 

Baggio would go on to win the game for Italy, scoring a penalty kick in extra time amid scenes that would not look out of place watching Djokovic serve for match point at Wimbledon or McIlroy line up the winning putt at The Open; I remember to this day the deathly hush that fell around the ground as the referee took an eternity to let Baggio take his kick and the eventual roar of the Azzurri who witnessed Baggio’s effort go in off the upright.

 

July 9th, same venue - Italy vs Spain; Baggio to the rescue - again.

 

Italy’s quarter final tie with Spain was the tale of two Baggio’s; Dino opened the scoring, however Italy were pegged back by a Caminero goal and the game was heading towards extra time, in what would have seen Italy play an extended game twice in 5 days. 

 

Spain meanwhile were the fresher side, having comfortably seen off Switzerland 3-0 in the previous round, they would have fancied their chances against a tired Italian team but they didn’t bank on the brilliance of Roberto Baggio; he may have taken a clattering in the process, but Beppe Signori’s lobbed through ball with two minutes remaining found Baggio rushing through on goal. With the deftest of touches, Zubizarreta was sat on the ground, Baggio skipped past him and despite forcing himself wider than he may of liked, he still found the far corner to put Italy 2-1 up despite the best efforts of Abelardo on the goal line.

 

Two knock out phase games. Three goals; two of which had come on the 88th minute to save Italy from elimination. If it wasn’t clear before, it was clear now; Roberto Baggio was becoming nothing short of a saviour to the Italians, and suddenly they believed.

 

July 13th, Giants Stadium, New Jersey - Bulgaria vs Italy; no late show as Baggio gets the job done early on; at a cost.

 

Roberto Baggio’s solo mission, deliberate or otherwise, to get Italy to a World Cup final reached it’s final hurdle in the form of Bulgaria, shock victors over holders Germany in the Quarter Finals. There would be no shock elimination this time around as Baggio scored two goals in 4 first half minutes; the first a sublime take from a throw in to turn his man, put a second defender on the ground, and use the third to shield his curled effort low into the bottom corner. 

 

The second goal was a thing of beauty, a typical Baggio goal as he started on the shoulder of the defender before darting off to meet Albertini’s inch perfect lobbed pass, and firing a first time right footed shot low across the keeper into the far corner. 

 

Sadly, Baggio’s heroics came at a cost as with twenty minutes remaining, he was forced off with an injury which would ultimately rob the Italians, and the greater footballing public who had grown to adore him over the previous ten days, of the real Roberto Baggio. 

 

Italy’s opponents in the final were Brazil, who had the enviable advantage of already being based in California, where the final would take place. Italy, on the other hand, had played their knock out fixtures on the East coast and faced a six hour flight to take on the Brazilians. Baggio, already reeling from an injury set back and facing a race against time to make the final, couldn’t have asked for worse preparation. 
 

The final was everything that Baggio’s World Cup so far wasn’t; an uneventful and some would argue drab affair that ended 0-0 after both regulation and extra time. The game passed Baggio by, he cut a forlorn figure on the peripheries of the game, never fully getting involved and looking a shadow of the player who had lit up the knock out phase and come to embody Italy as a nation.

 

We all know how it ended, the missed penalty kick, Brazil winning the World Cup and Baggio standing hands on hips, head bowed, wondering what may have been. The 15 year old me was devastated, I remember exactly where I was when Baggio missed that penalty; I was staying with relatives, in their converted attic with a portable TV that had the most ridiculous of aerials. As Baggio’s kick soared high, my heart sank; along with millions of Italian’s across the world. 

 

Now, some will find it bizarre to focus on USA 94 when Baggio ultimately missed the penalty that saw Italy lose the final to Brazil, but this was my childhood, my memories, and it’s how I’ll always remember Roberto Baggio; not as a choker, not as the man who cost Italy the World Cup, but as the world class player who stepped up when his nation needed him the most and single handedly, after a near calamitous group stage, dragged Italy to the brink of unlikely World Cup glory.

 

Thinking back to those days, those goals, and those knock out stage performances brings a smile to my face and rekindles feelings of days gone by, when a young boy looked upon a footballer not as someone earning a wage or looking for a better contract, but as a hero; it makes me feel exactly the way I did when I first fell in love with Italian football, and for that I’ll always be grateful to Roberto Baggio.

 

Buon compleanno, Roberto. 


James McGhie (@jrmcghie) is the host and producer of the Calciomercato.com podcast