The 1982 World Cup in Brazil was supposed to be Brazil’s. But Paolo Rossi had other ideas.
The South American superstars, with Zico, Eder and Socrates in full flow, caught the eye in the early stages, while Italy limped into the second round with three highly uninspiring draws. Suddenly the Italians – and recalled striker Paolo Rossi – sparked to life, beating Brazil 3-2 to reach the semi-finals, where they defeated Poland 2-0.
Rossi’s predatory skills were too much for West Germany in the final, however. He opened the scoring in the second half, and the Italians won 3-1, matching Brazil’s achievement of winning three World Cups.
And after almost missing out on the tournament, Rossi won the hearts of Italian fans during the summer of 1982, when his goals dragged Enzo Bearzot’s Azzurri to a third world title.
Football: Italy’s 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi dies aged 64
Italy started the tournament with three uninspiring draws before they came to life and marched to the title. Rossi had been caught up in a bribery scandal and banned for three years in but after continually protesting his innocence was cleared to play after two.
A slight and sprightly winger who converted to centre-forward, Rossi had an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time. He exploded onto the stage of the 1982 tournament with a hat-trick in the 3-2 defeat of Brazil, his first international goals in three years for Italy.
Rossi finished top scorer in the tournament with six goals and was the Golden Boot winner as well as the Golden Ball winner.
“That goal, more than any other goal I’ve ever scored, completely defined my characteristics. It was mine, because I stole that precious tenth of a second from the defender. And I knew he would never reach me,” Rossi told Fifa about the opening goal of the 1982 World Cup final against West Germany.
Yet, it is the performance against Brazil that is remembered as one of the greatest in the history of the tournament. Taking on, arguably, the best team in the world at that point of time, Rossi scored a hat-trick that eliminated Brazil from the World Cup. It is regarded as one of the greatest World Cup matches of all time, too.
“In every player’s career there are certain moments you simply never forget. This was one of them. The first goal was the most important one because it gave me back my confidence in every sense of the word. From that moment on it was as if someone up above was looking out for me,” Rossi had said.
“Everything suddenly changed. Nothing was going my way and then suddenly everything was going my way. It was suddenly all so easy. Such is the beauty of sport. A goal can change everything. In my case it changed my entire life.”
And the story arc of redemption was not lost on him either.
“When you win something important, it’s not just about the trophy. It’s about the group you win it with, it’s about your entire career that took you there, it’s about your personal redemption. There are thousands of stories behind that trophy. There is your whole life inside that cup,” he had said.
A brief history of Fifa World Cup: Spain 1982, when Brazil thrilled the world but Italy won the cup
Indeed, the 1982 World Cup was more than just becoming world champion for Rossi. When the tournament began he was a man seeking to repair the damage of what came before. And after failing to find the net in any of Italy’s three group games, all of them drawn, he did what champion footballers do: step up at the biggest of stages. With six goals in the knockout stages of the tournament, he did just that.
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