The Story of Argentina in The World Cup Part 6
Read More: The Story of Argentina in The World Cup Part 1
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We continue the story of Argentina in the 1990 World Cup, where we reached the semi-finals when Argentina faced Italy, the host team.
On the 3rd of July 1990, at the San Paolo stadium of Naples, the Italian national team received its Argentine counterpart, with a crowd of more than 50,000 spectators who filled the stands with the match stadium.
Before the match, Diego Armando Maradona asked the Napoli fans at the Sao Paulo stadium to support the Tango team in the famous semi-final match, but the fans responded with a sign in the stadium saying: "Maradona, Napoli loves you, but Italy is our country." And another: "Diego is in our heart... and Italy is in our songs.
Diego says in his biography of the semi-final 90: "It was not a normal semi-final at all, we were playing against Italy and against Napoli as well, what bothered me was that everyone demanded that the Napoli fans be Italian and stand next to their country."
Returning to the match, then-Juventus striker Savatore Schillaci opened the scoring for the Italian national team in the 17th minute, before Canigia repeated what he had done against Brazil and scored the equalizer with a perfect header, to end the match in a draw and the two teams resorted to overtime, which in turn ended in a draw.
In the penalty shootout, Argentina won 4-3.
For Argentina, Maradona, Julio Olreticoquia, Jorge Burruchaga and Jose Srizuela scored.
Roberto Baggio, Farenco Baresi and Luigi De Agostini scored for Italy, while Roberto Donadoni and Waldo Serena missed two kicks.
Argentina qualified for the second consecutive World Cup final against West Germany
The Final Match
1990 final is often referred to as one of the worst finals of the World Cup, as it was a difficult, defensive, and tactical match that was cautious on both sides.
The Italian press wrote about the final, "We did not see in the World Cup final anything resembling real football, but the only consolation was the loss of Argentina, If Argentina won the World Cup by achieving two wins in 7 matches, this would have been a real disaster for football."
It should be noted that Argentina played the final without five main players due to suspensions, including Giusti, Olartiquichea, Canigia, and Batista.
On July 8, 1990, the Olympic Stadium in Rome hosted the final match between Argentina and West Germany.
The match took place in the presence of a crowd of about 73,000 spectators.
The match was calm, with few chances, and defensive caution prevailed on both sides until Inter Milan defender Andreas Brehme scored the winning goal for West Germany from the penalty spot.
The historical generation of the Argentine national team, which included great players like Maradona, Canigia, and Valdano, failed to maintain the title, and then Argentina failed to reach any final match in the World Cup for 36 years, until the 2014 World Cup.