by Nick Holt
Coaches: Anghel Iordănescu (Romania) & Alfio Basile (Argentina)
Romania (4–4–2): Florin Prunea (Dinamo Bucharest); Dan Petrescu (Genoa), Daniel Prodan (Steaua Bucharest), Miodrag Belodedici (Valencia), Tibor Selymes (Cercle Bruges); Ioan Lupescu (Bayer Leverkusen), Gheorghe Popescu (PSV Eindhoven) Gheorghe Mihali (Dinamo Bucharest), Dorinel Munteanu (Cercle Bruges); Gheorghe Hagi (Cpt, Brescia); Ilie Dumitrescu (Steaua Bucharest). Subs: Constantin Gâlca (Steaua Bucharest) 86m for Hagi; Corneliu Papura (Universitatea Craiova) 88m for Dumitrescu
Argentina (4–4–2): Luis Islas (Independiente); Roberto Sensini (Parma), Fernando Cáceres (Real Zaragoza), Oscar Ruggeri (Cpt, San Lorenzo), José Chamot (Foggia); Ariel Ortega (River Plate), Diego Simeone (Seville), Fernando Redondo (Tenerife), José Basualdo (Vélez Sársfield); Abel Balbo (Roma), Gabriel Batistuta (Fiorentina). Sub: Ramón Medina Bello (Yokohama Marinos) 63m for Sensini
Cautioned: Ruggeri (Arg) 33m, Popescu (Rom) 50m, Redondo (Arg) 55m, Chamot (Arg) 56m, Selymes (Rom) 68m, Cáceres (Arg) 83m, Dumitrescu (Rom) 85m
The Rose Bowl might have been a bit shabby and run-down for some tastes but concerns about safety were ill-founded and the huge bowl provided a wonderful setting for this cracking game.
Both sides had notable omissions. Argentina had removed their captain Maradona from their squad to try to avoid action from FIFA, while Romania had to play without Raducioiu, their best striker, who got a second yellow card for brainlessly kicking the ball away in their last group match. The focus shifted from the Argentinian No.10 to his Romanian counterpart, often found wanting in the past but seemingly up for the cup on this occasion.
The first goal came out of the blue. Balbo had already missed a good chance for Argentina when a weaving run from Simeone created an opening. The lead lasted five minutes after Batistuta won a penalty for a soft challenge by Prodan. Perhaps the referee felt he deserved it for a cheeky back-heeled turn. Another two minutes, another goal. A superb threaded ball from Hagi, from the right this time, found Dumitrescu, who opened his body to execute the coolest finish at the near post.
Ten minutes into the second half Dumitrescu returned the favour. He dispossessed Basualdo and ran at the Argentinian defence. Selymes decoyed to his left, and Dumitrescu cleverly held the ball and released Hagi, who was running hard to his right. The finish was with Hagi’s weaker right foot but was still unstoppable.
In between the Argentinians pressed hard. Romania’s wing backs were pushed back and made a five-man defence and Argentina enjoyed a lot of midfield possession, allowing Simeone and Ortega to run at the Romanians. It was in the centre that Romania stayed strong, where Gica Popescu and Miodrag Belodedici resisted all Argentina could throw at them. They needed to be, guys like Hagi and Dumitrescu didn’t set much store by chasing back.
The sweeper Belodedici was an interesting character. Of Serbian extraction (he was born right on the border between the two countries), he had won the European Cup with both Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade, the first player to win with two clubs. Now with Valencia in Spain, Belodedici was a deep-lying central defender with pace and an uncanny ability to time a tackle. He and Prodan negated the threat from Batistuta and Balbo in the second half, while Popescu sat in front of them and stemmed the runs and reduced Argentina to pot shots from distance. Balbo’s tap-in owed more to Prunea’s fumble than his own skill, which was short of what was needed in an Argentinian shirt.
Romania played out the last fifteen minutes amidst a cacophony of noise from the largely Hispanic, Argentina-supporting crowd, but there were few alarms. Iordănescu allowed himself the luxury of substituting Hagi (tired) and Dumitrescu (booked and flaky) – he would have been mortified had Argentina sneaked a goal and his side faced extra-time without their two most creative players
Ireland’s campaign came to a subdued end. Bergkamp’s early goal, set up by Overmars’ pace, settled any Dutch nerves. Jack Charlton left out young McAteer, who had been one of the team’s best players, and restored Phelan, who hadn’t. And McGrath at last had an opponent (Bergkamp) who knew how to avoid him and tax his creaky knees by making him run around. Keane and Sheridan and Rijkaard and Jonk cancelled each other out, but the Dutch wide players gave them an edge. The second goal was a catastrophic error from Pat Bonner, who let Jonk’s shot slip through his hands, but Ireland didn’t seem to have much idea how to chase a game after going behind early.
Brazil and the United States met on the fourth of July, but there was to be no holiday celebration for the Americans. Brazilian boss Carlos Alberto Parreira was not the chap who captained them in 1970, but a career coach who made his name in the Middle East, taking first Kuwait and then the United Arab Emirates to the World Cup Finals. He took a bold decision here, leaving out Raí, his captain. Raí was Sócrates’ younger brother by eleven years, but he looked out of sorts here, maybe feeling the effects of a first full season in European football with Paris St Germain.
The USA defended well, with their long-haired central defender Alexei “Jesus” Lalas in excellent form again. The nickname was a reference to his physical similarity to inaccurate Western representations of Jesus in Renaissance art, a white guy with long flowing locks and occasionally a wispy beard. A couple of last-ditch tackles by Lalas made him a saviour of sorts. The American forwards, with the crafty and quick (but lazy) Roy Wegerle on the bench, were out of their depth and even after Leonardo was sent off just before half-time they made little impression on this brick wall of a Brazilian defence. Leonardo took no further part in the tournament after his elbow poleaxed Tab Ramos, fracturing his skull – a horrible attack, albeit hugely out of character. Romário, withdrawn a little deeper to help in midfield with Brazil a man down, made the only goal for Bebeto. The Brazilians brought on a young right-back, Cafú, for his Finals debut in the second half.
The Americans had cause to be pleased with their campaign. They had made big strides since 1990, and showed good teamwork and tactical awareness. Any American sports team will have good conditioning and fitness, and they showed superb commitment in the heat. Another couple of international-class players and they might give the big boys something to think about.
Italy came within a whisper of going out against Nigeria. A goal behind after some un-Italian defending at a corner let in Amunike, they were down to ten men after seventy-six minutes. Gianfranco Zola, only on the pitch for twelve minutes, was mystifyingly sent off by the Mexican referee, Brizio Carter, a hopeless official who made a habit of this sort of nonsense. In this instance he had a partner in crime – the Nigerian right-back Eguavoen was guilty of a shocking piece of play-acting to engineer Zola’s dismissal. It was Zola’s only appearance in the World Cup Finals. Two years later he joined Chelsea and enjoyed the best spell of his career, appreciated more in West London than he ever was in Italy.
Italy dominated the game against a surprisingly timid Nigeria, for whom Finidi George and a young Jay-Jay Okocha were anonymous. Okocha remained a brilliant but frustrating and inconsistent player, George remained an over-rated and unfulfilled one. Dominating the game is all very well, but not if you don’t score and the Italians couldn’t find a way through a massed defence and on-form goalkeeper, Nigerian captain Peter Rufai. There were only two minutes left when right-back Roberto Mussi strong-armed his way past a couple of defenders and cut back a nicely weighted ball for Roberto Baggio. The European Footballer of the Year had looked all puff and wind so far in the tournament, contributing little except a major pout when he was taken off against Norway. He seized the moment here, placing a wonderfully controlled shot past a couple of defenders and Rufai’s outstretched hand.
Eguavoen got his come-uppance for his faking in extra-time, upending Antonio Benarrivo and giving Baggio the opportunity to slot away the winner from the penalty spot. They left it late, but the better team went through.
Bulgaria, in the knockout rounds for the first time, got a kind draw in Mexico. Hristo Stoichkov, the temperamental Barcelona striker, gave them an early lead, but a terrible de
cision gave Mexico a penalty and an equaliser and Bulgaria started to get a little stroppy. A poor game, refereed by a Syrian official who would have struggled to control an Under-12s game, dragged through extra-time to a penalty shoot-out. Half of the eight penalties were missed, Mexico making a hash of their first three (even García Aspe, who scored one in the match). Yordan Lechkov, the game’s best player, put Mexico out of their misery and out of a second consecutive Finals tournament on penalties. We Englishmen feel your pain, Mexico.
Republic of Ireland Squad 1994:
GK: Pat Bonner (Glasgow Celtic, 34, 73), Alan Kelly (Sheffield United, 25, 3)
DEF: Phil Babb (Coventry City, 23, 5), Denis Irwin (Manchester United, 28, 26), Gary Kelly (Leeds United, 19, 5), Alan Kernaghan (Manchester City, 27, 11), Paul McGrath (Aston Villa, 34, 65), Kevin Moran (Blackburn Rovers, 38, 69), Terry Phelan (Man City, 27, 22), Steve Staunton (Villa, 25, 47)
MID & WIDE: Ray Houghton (Villa, 32, 58), Roy Keane (Man Utd, 22, 22), Jason McAteer (Bolton Wanderers, 22, 5), Eddie McGoldrick (Arsenal, 29, 12), Alan McLoughlin (Portsmouth, 27, 17), John Sheridan (Sheffield Wednesday, 29, 19), Andy Townsend (Villa, 30, 45), Ronnie Whelan (Liverpool, 32, 50)
FWD: John Aldridge (Tranmere Rovers, 35, 57), Tony Cascarino (Chelsea, 31, 50), Tommy Coyne (Motherwell, 31, 14), David Kelly (Wolverhampton Wanderers, 28, 16)
United States Squad 1994:
GK: Tony Meola (Cpt, Buffalo Blizzard, 25), Jürgen Sommer (Luton Town, 25), Brad Friedel (Newcastle United, 23)
DEF: Marcelo Balboa (Léon, 26), Mike Burns (Viborg, Denmark, 23), Paul Caligiuri (Freiburg, 30), Fernando Clavijo (St Louis Storm, 37)*, Tom Dooley (Bayer Leverkusen, 32), Cle Kooiman (Cruz Azul, Mexico, 30), Alexei Lalas (no contract, 24)†, Mike Lapper (Wolfsburg, 23)
MID & WIDE: John Harkes (Derby County, 27), Cobi Jones (Coventry City, 24), Hugo Perez (San Diego Sockers, 30), Tab Ramos (Real Betis, 27), Claudio Reyna (Virginia Cavaliers, 20), Mike Sorber (UNAM Pumas, Mexico, 23)
FWD: Frank Klopas (AEK Athens, 27), Joe-Max Moore (Saarbrücken, 23), Earnie Stewart (Willem II Tilburg, 25), Roy Wegerle (Coventry City, 30), Eric Wynalda (Saarbrücken, 25)
QUARTER-FINALS
The tournament, pretty ordinary so far, briefly sprang to life in the quarter-finals, producing four good matches between evenly matched sides.
Italy might have struggled against this quality of opposition with ten men, even with eleven it was never easy. Roberto Baggio was thwarted early on but was generally kept quiet by Nadal and company. It was his unrelated namesake Dino Baggio’s classical long-range strike that put the Italians ahead. Caminero’s equaliser was the result of a fine counter-attack, but it was an Italian leg that took the ball up and over Pagliuca. Late on Salinas was one on one with the Italian ’keeper but lost his nerve, and Pagliuca leaped high to tip over a long-range hit from Hierro. Italy were under intense pressure for the last half-hour but survived through a combination of good goalkeeping and typically resolute last-ditch defending.
Baggio (Roberto) kept his nerve where Salinas didn’t. Nicola Berti’s chip forward bounced loose as Italy attacked and Signori just reached it ahead of Nadal (who should have seen red for his challenge). The referee did well to play on and Roberto Baggio, who had disappeared so completely it was easy to forget he was playing, took the ball around Zubizarreta and scored from a tough angle. On this occasion the better team didn’t win, but it left many people wondering if Italy’s name was on the trophy.
The referee missed a blatant elbow in the match. To be fair so did all the TV commentators; there was barely a mention of it in the coverage. Tassotti’s assault on Luis Enrique was as dangerous as Leonardo’s against the USA, a fact reflected in a lengthy post-match eight-game ban. If FIFA had clamped down on play-acting and cheating in the 1990s as hard as they clamped down on serious foul play, it might not have become as endemic as it is today.
Holland and Brazil played out a cagey first half in Dallas, before sharing five goals in a half-hour burst in the second half. Romário volleyed home Bebeto’s cross with Koeman trailing sluggishly behind him and then watched his strike partner skim the post. On the hour Bebeto waltzed through the Dutch back line, beat De Goey and scored. Holland stood still, hoping for an offside against Romário – Koeman still had his hand up when Bebeto scored. Play to the whistle, son. We were then “treated” to the ghastly baby-cradling goal celebration that Bebeto bequeathed to the football world. Had the referee sent him off there and then he would have done the game a huge service.
The Dutch needed a quick response and got one, Bergkamp running on to a clever throw and beating Taffarel, who was slow to come out. The goalkeeper, who looked past his best, didn’t come at all for De Boer’s corner twelve minutes later and Winter couldn’t miss. The Brazilian defence looked vulnerable, having been near impassable for four and a half games.
With Leonardo suspended Brazil recalled the veteran Branco and he offered up his free-kick skills in the last few minutes. The first, hard and high, was tipped over superbly by De Goey; the second, harder and low, flew just inside the far post.
Here’s a thought. Had Advocaat picked Danny Blind, the Ajax sweeper, instead of Koeman, a good passer and set piece kicker but a suspect defender, they might have dealt better with the Brazilian forwards.
WORLD CUP SHOCK No.10
10 July 1994, Giants Stadium, NJ; 72,416
Referee: José Torres Cadena (Colombia)
Coaches: Dimitar Penev (Bulgaria) & Berti Vogts (Germany)
Bulgaria (4–4–2): Boris Mihailov (Cpt, Mulhouse); Ilian Kiriakov (Melida), Trifon Ivanov (Neuchâtel Xamax), Petar Hubchev (Hamburg), Tsanko Tzvetanov (Levski Sofia); Zlatko Yankov (Levski Sofia), Yordan Lechkov (Hamburg), Nasko Sirakov (Levski Sofia), Krasimir Balakov (Sporting); Hristo Stoichkov (Barcelona), Emil Kostadinov (Porto). Subs: Petar Aleksandrov (Aarau) 82m for Tzvetanov; Daniel Borimirov (Levski Sofia) 82m for Lechkov
Germany (4–4–2): Bodo Illgner (Cologne); Thomas Berthold (Stuttgart), Thomas Helmer (Bayern Munich), Jürgen Kohler (Juventus), Michael Wagner (Kaiserslautern); Thomas Hassler (Roma), Guido Buchwald (Stuttgart), Lothar Matthäus (Bayern), Andreas Möller (Juventus); Rudi Völler (Olympique de Marseille), Jürgen Klinsmann (Monaco). Subs: Thomas Strunz (Stuttgart) 59m for Wagner; Andreas Brehme (Kaiserslautern) 83m for Hassler
Cautioned: Helmer (Ger) 14m, Wagner (Ger) 15m, Ivanov (Bul) 22m, Hassler (Ger) 49m, Klinsmann (Ger) 50m, Stoichkov (Bul) 82m, Mihailov (Bul) 85m, Völler (Ger) 89m
Further progress for Germany looked likely, as Berti Vogts’ men drew Bulgaria, the weakest of the quarter-finalists. This meant virgin territory for Bulgaria, through to the knockout stages. They had some good players, just no pedigree at this level. Many of their stars played abroad, but only one of them was a “name” player; that was Hristo Stoichkov, the highly strung Barcelona striker. Stoichkov was a great player, a left-sided striker with strength and some pace and a fine crosser of the ball; he was also lethal from free-kicks and rarely missed penalties, which he was adept at winning. He could be a liability; a major brawl in a 1985 Cup Final in Bulgaria led to a life suspension, which was eventually repealed to one month – a fairly extreme change of heart by the authorities. Had the ban stood Bulgaria would have lost its finest-ever player. Not that Stoichkov learned his lesson; he continued to berate officials, and in his first season at Barcelona (1990–91) he was suspended for two months for treading on the referee’s foot. He was as brash and unapologetic as his country’s later superstar, Dimitar Berbatov, was unassuming.
There were other good players. Borislav Mihailov (Mulhouse in France), the goalkeeper with the – ahem, shall we say, distinctive? – hair transplant was the captain and a reassuring presence. In front of him giant stopper Trifon Ivanov (Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland) was anything but reassuring to his opponents; his scary beard and ragged eighties mullet made him look like a cross between Trevor Hockey, the cult sixties hatchet-man and Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran. The balding midfield playmaker Yordan Lechkov, the
busy winger Emil Kostadinov and the curly-haired Krasimir Balakov were all international quality, all playing abroad, but not well known outside Bulgaria or the club where they played (Hamburg, Porto and Sporting Lisbon respectively). But how would this mish-mash of expats and players from Levski Sofia, the dominant domestic club, fare at the business end of a major tournament?
Pretty well was the answer. Bulgaria started brightly, and Stoichkov stung Illgner’s palms with a shot from a tight angle. The Barcelona man then set up Balakov for a low drive, which hit the outside of Illgner’s post. Klinsmann, who put a free header straight into Mihailov’s arms in the first half, made the breakthrough early in the second, but he did it in unsavoury fashion, throwing himself to the ground after a fifty-fifty challenge with Lechkov. How a perennial diver like Klinsmann could fool a referee who presumably was regarded as one of the game’s top officials is mystifying. Maybe a FIFA refereeing committee which four years earlier had appointed one of its members’ son-in-law to a key game could explain . . .
The Germans thought they were two-up soon after. Hässler hit the post and Völler controlled the rebound and drilled home. The offside decision from the linesman was a good one – Völler was offside when Hässler, the last man to touch the ball, hit his shot.
Bulgaria showed great resolve against intimidating opponents. Stoichkov won a free-kick on the edge of the box and swung it gracefully over the wall and into the side of the goal Illgner had vacated. Three minutes later Yankov twisted inside past a defender and chipped a tempting ball into the middle. The Germans had been sucked across the right and Lechkov stole in behind the centre-backs to send a flying header into the top corner. Brian Glanville analyses the goal in his World Cup history. The Germans had decided to play with a sweeper, but instead of putting Matthias Sammer there, who played the position for Borussia Dortmund, they used Matthäus, a midfield player. Matthäus thought he was good enough to play anywhere, but he was in absentia when Lechkov crept in to beat five foot five Thomas Hässler to the ball.