1990 FIFA world cup had plenty of drama and excitement and it was played in Italy. This article is all about an unexpected hero, Sergio Goycochea, the Argentina goal keeper who almost single handedly took Argentina into finals, before being bowed out to West Germany in the final.
There were lot of expectations on Argentina during the start of 1990 FIFA world cup due to following reasons:
Argentina started the campaign against minnows Cameroon in the opening game of the world cup played at Milan. It was expected to be a one-sided game were Argentina can win easily. The expectation turned out to be completely wrong and 9 men Cameroon (2 were sent out due to foul play) defeated the defending champions Argentina 1-0 and Argentina goal keeper Nery Pumpido failed to collect a feeble header from Froncois Oman-Biyik. Shocking result in the opening game and there were lot of criticism on Nery Pumpido.
The next two matches for Argentina seem to be crucial and tough ones as they were facing Soviet Union and Romania. In their second match, Argentina played against Soviet Union and it was expected to be a tough match as Soviet Union was a good side during those days. In the 9th minute of the game, Nery Pumpido came out to clear a ball from Soviet Union player and he collided with his own Argentina defender and fractured his leg and he was out of the tourney. Now comes our real hero, Sergio Goycochea as a replacement for Nery Pumpido.
There was another twist happened just before the start of world cup for Argentina. The coach, Carlos Bilardo named following team members as Argentina goal keeper.
Luis Islas asked his coach, Carlos Bilardo, to name him as the first choice and he was not interested as an understudy to Nery Pumpido. But, Carlos Bilardo, refused and Luis Islas walked out of the team in protest which eventually brought Sergio Goycochea as second choice goal keeper. Even though, Goycochea become second choice, there was no plan to make him play and he was expected to sit in the bench for the entire tournament.
Coming back to match against Soviet Union, Sergio Goycochea survived a few anxious moments initially in the match and slowly got settled down. He was unbeaten in the match even though he had a few testing moments and Argentina won 2-0 through goals by Troglio and Burruchaga. Argentina then played Romania in their last group match and went on to drew 1-1 where Sergio Goycochea made some spectacular saves. On one end Maradona miserably failed to score in all three group matches and from nowhere Sergio Goycochea emerged and put a gallant display under the bar through crucial saves which took Argentina to last 16 (pre quarter finals).
On completion of first round group matches, it was evident that Argentina was a depleted side with Maradona struggling with injuries and niggles and both Caniggia and Burruchaga were totally out of form. Now all the responsibilities were loaded on shoulders of Sergio Goycochea to stop as much as possible. On pre quarter final encounter at Turin, weak Argentina took strong Brazil and from the start of the match Brazil was dominating completely and Sergio Goycochea was living dangerously. He still made few saves to keep Argentina hopes and Brazil was dominating completely by keeping the procession of the ball under their control. Brazil got 18 corners and couple of their shots hit the post which should have eventually resulted in goals. Both luck and Sergio Goycochea performance under the bar gave a few hopes and Argentina got their only opportunity in 81st minute of the match when Maradona passed the ball to Claudio Caniggia in the midfield. Caniggia did a solo run in the left flank and he had beaten the charging Brazilian goal keeper Claudio Taffarel to net only goal of the match and eventually Argentina won 1-0 and limped into quarter finals. In entire match, Sergio Goycochea had saved a minimum of 3 to 4 goals and remained unbeaten.
In quarter finals, Argentina took strong Yugoslavia at Florence and the result was a goalless 0-0 for entire 120 minutes and Sergio Goycochea did some fabulous saves and airborne stops to keep Argentina in contention. The game entered into penalty shoot-out and Argentina was not progressing as expected and Maradona himself missed his penalty chance. Maradona was tensed and Goycochea went and told him that “Relax, I am going to save a couple of penalties”. As promised, he saved two crucial penalties and finally Argentina won the match 3-2 and marched into semifinals. It was purely one man show and almost the entire match belonged to Sergio Goycochea.
After gaining much needed confidence, in semifinals at Naples, Argentina faced the host Italy. Italy entered into semifinals with an unbeaten record without letting a goal in the entire tournament. So, Italy was much fancied side as they were the host and were holding unbeaten record, without letting a goal in last 5 matches. The semi-final was evenly poised and Italy took lead in 18th minute through Sicilian Striker, Salvatore Schillachi and Argentina equalized in 68th minute through Claudio Caniggia header and thereby brought curtains for Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga’s world record of 518 minutes unbeaten streak. At the end of the regular time, the match was tied 1-1 and extra time went goalless. In penalty shoot-out, Goycochea made crucial stops against Roberto Donadoni and Aldo Serena and won the match 5-4(4-3 in penalties) and entered into final and it was heart breaking for the hosts Italy.
In final, at Rome, against West Germany, Argentina line up was without Claudio Caniggia due to suspension (2 yellow cards) and it was goalless first half and at 85th minute, West Germany was awarded a penalty kick due to foul play by Argentina and Andre Brehme netted the winner for West Germany and final scores were 1-0 in favour of West Germany.
Sergio Goycochea earlier saved around 4 penalties along with a few breathtaking saves failed this time and eventually handed the world cup to West Germany. Even though Argentina lost in final, it was because of Sergio Goycochea heroics, Argentina reached final and definitely without him, they may not have qualified for knock-outs thus Sergio Goycochea become hero from zero.
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