All Time World Cup! 2nd Round...
Rossi 34
Madrid
This match would be a rematch of the 1968 European final, when Italy won on home soil after a replay. On that occasion the Yugoslavs had cause to feel more than a little unlucky. Dzajic and co were out for revenge and started the match strongly.
Zvomimir Boban found his fellow Milan star Savicevic, who skipped through Tardelli and Bergomi but Baresi was able to get across and prevent his old club-mate getting a shot away.
Not long afterwards, Dzajic went close after good work from Sekularac. After half an hour, Italy decided they had absorbed enough pressure, and launched a classic counter attack.
Paulo Maldini won the ball from Sekularac and found Giuseppe Meazza. He evaded Stojkovic and played the ball back to Maldini, who had broken down the wing. The 1994 World Soccer player of the year outpaced Buljan and pulled back a great cross which Silvio Piola met with a powerful header, only for Beara to palm it over the bar.
The reprieve was short lived however. From Baggio’s corner, Piola again rose above his makers, this time nodding down to Paulo Rossi, who had completely marker Katalinski. The arch poacher was not about to miss from five yards.
The goal did not particularly affect the flow of the game; Yugoslavia still needed to push forward, while Italy were still content to hit their opponents on the break.
Yugoslavia had skilful, pacy attackers to rival almost any team in the tournament, but this Italian defence was truly awesome. Bergomi and Collovati man-marked Dzajic and Bobek, with Ferrara and Maldini keeping tabs on Savicevic and Sekularac.
Behind them, Franco Baresi was more than capable of covering any bursts forward by the midfielders. So successful were the man-markers that Baresi even had time to bring the ball out of defence on occasion. He fed Mezza who turned and found Baggio with a clever pass. He raced into the area, but was shrugged aside by Sinisa Mihajlovic, possibly with an elbow.
The Italians demanded a penalty, with typically dramatic cries and gesticulation, but Mihajlovic drove a hard, swerving diagonal pass to Sekularac. Great vision, but Maldini read it and was there to prevent Sekularac making anything of it.
By the second half, the final score was beginning to have an air of inevitability. The Yugoslavs just did not have a chance to show their skills. Their opponents just had too much nous for them. Playing it simple, never taking risks, and happy to play back rather than forward.
The midfield pulled further and further back, with Baggio left to his own devices to create something for himself or Rossi if Katalinski’s defence switched off.
Yugoslavia’s only real chance came late on, when Romeo Benetti finally overstepped the mark with a physical challenge on Stojkovic 25 yards out. Mihajlovic’s free kick smashed back off Zoff’s post so hard that it rebounded almost all the way back to the taker. In his haste to reach the ball, the frustrated Mihajlovic caught Collovati with an awful, thigh-high tackle as he tried to clear.
The red car was clear cut, and with ten men Yugoslavia were never going to break down the Azzuri’s wall. At the final whistle, Yugoslavia found themselves doomed yet again to repeat much of their footballing history. Their individual skills had at time touched genius, but lack of cohesion and, perhaps mental strength, had seen them nullified by a cagier, more prosaic but more dogged opponent.
Italy would be hoping that next opponents Holland would prove similarly self-destructive.
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