Italy In USA 94

the game they were reporting was about and would have done better to stick to baseball. Of course for my own, I feel the networks should have at least tried to get people who either followed the game of football or to better educate the commentators they had, as to not look too ignorant about what they were reporting. Actually what ended up causing a stir was the way, broadcasters from Latin America shouted after a goal was scored, which in fact is a practice carried out through out the whole football world.

 

In all this however; there was one thing I did notice as I watched the games and it being that the following changes had taken place in the rules:

 

1-     A player was only on off sides if he was in front of the defender, on the same line no longer meant he was on off sides, which would hopefully increase scoring.

2-     Almost any series foul earned the offending player a card regardless of weather or not there had been intensions to commit injure.

3-     Any intentional handball received a card.

4-     Deliberate back passes to the goalkeeper were no longer allowed and were punished by an indirect free kick, on the spot where the goal keeper had touched the ball.

5-     Any last player committing a foul to stop a player got an automatic red card.

6-     Yellow cards from the first round, were no longer counted in later stages of the tournament.

7-     Players had to wear their names on their shirts, along with their numbers. This even causing a comic situation with the players of Cameroon; who were forced to add their names on their shirts in magic marker.

8-     Three points were given for a victory; as opposed to what till then had only been two, however I for my part failed to see (and still do) how this makes such a big difference when teams are only playing three games.

 

Game day however arrived and again, it was to the same Port Authority bus terminal only now the mood amongst the Italian faithful was more somber, we needed to win and had to or else face elimination. Norway was not going to be easy but as I looked around I could see everybody was more serious about the game than they had been against Ireland. Another thing I noticed was that Italian fans clearly outnumbered Norwegians, perhaps by as much as 4 to 1 but this did not mean we would win for this we had to do. Our name alone was not going to do it, as teams were no longer afraid but felt they could beat us.

 

I remember having a much better seat on that day than the one I had against Ireland. This because tickets were not so hard to find, which made it possible for me to sit more or less at midfield, whereas before I got to sit behind one of the goals; where I managed to get a great view of Houghton winning the game for Ireland. Italy was more concentrated on this day and there was no denying it as even during the national anthems I could sense their focus on the matter at hand. As for myself, I too had come ready to support Italy as much as I could and again wearing my blue shirt of the Italian national team.

 

The game started as any other, with Italy attacking and the score at blank when they again; like in their first game in Argentina 78 made history for all the wrong reasons! In Argentina, it was for giving up the fastest goal in world cup history, now it was for being the first team to have its goalkeeper (Pagliuca) shown the red card during a world cup match. Yes, Italy was down to ten men, which meant they would have to bring in their reserve goalkeeper and take a player off the field. Roberto Baggio, much to my surprise was chosen to go off, so basically we were down to ten men, without our best player and in a game we had to win against the team that had eliminated England in qualifying. Could things get worse?

 

This I asked myself and so did many irritated fans. One of which even overheard me say and got slightly angry at me; when I commented to someone next to me that Pagliuca had handled the ball outside the box, to be told that the ball had really hit him on the chest but regardless of which he was sent off. Marchegiani was forced to take his place. This the goalkeeper who had literally given away two goals to Switzerland, which had clearly been his fault; was going to be our starting goalkeeper, for not only the remainder of this game but the next. Could things get any worse? They could; Baresi, our captain had to leave with an injury and later that week would require surgery.

 

In spite of all however the first half ended 0-0 with the fans or “Fratelli D’ Italia” still hoping to win. The second half got under way and optimism, despite all was high and it did not take long for the much awaited scream of “GOAL” to burst from our lungs as Dino Baggio; at the 67 minute mark put us ahead to stay. All of which creating a scenario, which I will never forget; people hugging each other, some jumping up and down with flags, men and women, it mattered not for we were winning. One to zero, it would end and our hopes would live on to qualify, we of course would probably have to beat Mexico or at least tie and hope to go in as one of the third place teams but it was within our reach and this was cause enough to celebrate.

 

Celebrate, we did but it was more relieve than anything else that we had at least won a game and scored that made us feel good afterwards. It had been a costly victory loosing both Baresi and Pagliuca but we had won and that was important. As for the other game in our group Mexico had beaten Ireland 2-1; which meant that matters where square in the group at three points for all four teams. All of which put greater emphasis on our last match against Mexico.

 

 

USA 94 (Italy VS. Mexico)

 

An Article about not only the match Italy played against Mexico in USA 94 but what it was like to live in a country in which the world cup was being played.

 

Italy had won by beating Norway 1-0, after which I was pretty much sure they had qualified to the next round, specially since even third place teams could go through or at least 4 out of the top 6 could do so. Of course, there was always the possibility they could loose to Mexico but I doubted this was going to happen, as I figured if worse came to worse they would tie and go in as a third place team. This incidentally being the place they held in the group after their second game.

 

Time had come to sit back and enjoy the world cup and by this I do not only mean the games on TV but the world cup atmosphere that had been created by this tournament along with all those fans from literally all over the world who had come to see it. This plus the fact that summer had just started in the United States, gave a sensation of real world cup excitement, added to that already international scene New York was so famous for. In a way; every group of fans, thanks to the way they celebrated brought their country over to America.

 

I; in the days that followed Italy’s victory over Norway decided to explore the city of New York, feeling almost like a tourist in my home town, seeing all those fans from all those countries that had qualified and some from countries that had not but were there just to enjoy the games. There was the Norwegian and Swedish fans with their Viking hats that included horns on the sides, reminding me of characters from Wagner’s “The Ring”, Brazilian fans with their yellow and green and samba music, Argentineans always with their big drums, Germans, Mexicans, and many others.

 

All of which making this world cup a big success; who many so called “experts” had said would not be given that the United States did not have a tradition of football, and many other reasons. In all this however one thing had been overlooked and that was that many Americans would be cheering on the country of their parents or in some cases grandparents, as was mine with Italy, which was precisely what happened to keep huge stadiums packed. As a matter of fact; USA 94 set the record for the largest attendance at a world cup and this despite not having either England or France qualify. This also a record which still holds out despite three world cups having been played since; all of which had 64 games as opposed to “USA 94”, in which only 52 were played.

 

I basically went around to soak up not only the sun during the time that followed Italy’s game against Norway but to meet some of the fans from other countries; as well as look for a bar in which I would be watching Italy’s games. After all, I wanted to see Italy play in company of fellow Italians and did not have the means to follow them all over the country, which incidentally was the biggest (and will be till either China, or Canada or Russia host the event) to ever host a world cup with also the greatest distances between venues. As one could imagine would be the case, when matches were being played in cities as far apart from each other as Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Orlando, and Chicago.

 

Italy was going to be playing its next match in Boston; which was not far but I was afraid I would not be able to get a ticket. This given the many Mexican fans, who were bound to be buying them up, so I just figured to look for a nice Italian bar with a large TV set. I considered many neighborhoods but eventually decided that the best would be “Little Italy” in downtown Manhattan. After all; what better location to watch “La nazionale di calcio” than the place where Don Vito Corleone, grew up and even made his bones in.

 

It was after looking over many places that I came to settle on “Bar Napoli”; a nice place on Mulberry street, right on the corner, though I do not remember the name of the other