1. Roberto Baggio stood at the punishment spot and, for an occasion, flashed back to Pasadena. His last
World Mug punishment kick came in the Rose Bowl, and while he missed, Italy lost the title game to
Brazil.
This day, he nailed it in to the nook of the world wide web with six minute left, lifting Italy into a 2-2 tie
with Chile during their opener Thursday at Bordeaux.
"Unquestionably I believed of 4 years past in the past," Baggio mentioned, "but so therefore I told
myself I was planning to put the ball in to the web this day.
"Luckily, I did," he added with a grin. Baggio saved the Italians in many instances in 1994, so he transfers
minor blame or disgrace beyond the missed punishment kick within the finals shoot-out. And he rescued
his group from inside the enormous troubled against the Chileans, who got two objectives from Marcelo
Salas. "We took hazards to win within the final minute afterwards being in danger to lose," Baggio
mentioned. "We envisioned the initial World Mug match to be hard." The veteran striker, remembered
about the Italian lineup at age 31 afterwards playing just one game for the countrywide group in 36
months, smoothly sent the ball past goalkeeper Nelson Tapia afterwards Ronald Fuentes' right arm
couldn't get out from the technique for Baggio's pass.
"I did not make an effort to prevent the ball with my hand," Fuentes mentioned. "The ball went to me. I
was very close. Kinh thoi trang I did not have the opportunity to react. "I am very unhappy, as a result of
the endeavour my teammates made. We deserved to win. We played as equates to." Chile was leading,
2-1, thank you to 2 astonishing strikes by Salas, afterwards Religious person Vieri had given Italy a tenth
direct off Baggio's laterally pass. Italy took the direct on a counterattack. Vieri and Baggio hadmerely
two defenders amidst them and the world wide web as Baggio took a lengthy pass from Paolo Maldini.
Baggio unselfishly slipped the ball laterally about the better-positioned Vieri, who slid it home from 15
yards. In Montpellier, there were nil objectives, but a near score by a goalkeeper and the initial player
expulsion of the entire world Mug marked Paraguay's 0-0 tie with Bulgaria this era.
Bulgarian keeper Zdravko Zdravkov leaped high to his directly to knock away a second free kick from 25
yards out of Paraguayan goalie Jose Luis Chilavert. Chilavert, who usually emerges of the world wide
web on set plays and as a spare assailant, curled a left-footed blast beyond the fence within the 78th
minutes, just to have Zdravkov slap away the shot as it approached the crossbar.