Inspiration in Italy’s 1982 Cup win
PAOLO ROSSI was Italy’s goalscoring hero from its victorious 1982 World Cup campaign and scorer of a hattrick against Brazil in one of the most famous matches in the competition’s history.
He died on December 9, aged 64.
The celebrated striker’s death came with the football world still in mourning for Argentine great Diego Maradona, who died on November 25.
Italian TV channel RAI Sport, where Rossi had been working as a pundit, said ‘‘Pablito’’ had died of an ‘‘incurable disease’’(lung cancer).
Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina said that Rossi was ‘‘indelibly linked to the blue shirt and his style of play inspired many strikers of future generations’’.
Rossi, almost fraillooking for a striker at the time but quick, agile and intelligent, won two Serie A titles, a European Cup and a Coppa Italia with Juventus but will be most fondly remembered for lighting up the 1982 World Cup in Spain with six goals.
His selection in the Italy squad came after a twoyear ban for a matchfixing scandal and was initially criticised by pundits, who wrote him off as out of shape.
But they were left eating their words when he struck one of the great hattricks in World Cup history against Brazil, the runaway favourite that had enchanted the world with its flowing football.
Italy’s 32 victory in that classic encounter in the second group phase booked a place in the semifinals against Poland, where Rossi again made the difference.
He sank the Poles with a brace in a 20 win that fired his side into the World Cup decider against West Germany.
Rossi then scored Italy’s first in a 31 victory that gave the Azzurri their third World Cup title and their first since 1938.
He won the Golden Boot as the top scorer and Golden Ball as the player of the tournament, a campaign regarded as one of the best individual World Cup performances of all time.
He was also awarded the 1982 Ballon d’Or as Europe’s top footballer.
Born in Prato, Tuscany, Rossi played his entire club career in Italy. He was banned for three years in 1980 as part of the nation’s infamous ‘‘Totonero’’ matchfixing scandal but always denied any wrongdoing.
The ban was later reduced to two years, allowing him to carve out his slice of World Cup history and win ‘‘personal redemption.’’
‘‘On one hand I felt fulfilled. I said to myself, ‘you’ve made it’,’’ he said in a Fifa documentary in 2018.
‘‘On the other hand, I was disappointed that all of this just ended. The World Cup was over.’’
He also scored three goals at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. With a total of nine goals, he remains Italy’s jointhighest scorer at the World Cup with
Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri.
He was included in the 1986 World Cup squad but did not play and ended his playing career a year later with Verona, at the relatively young age of 30. — Reuters