Italain soccer and me

Circa 1994....I remember my father and brother getting excited because the football WC was about to begin...Football WC meant sleeping relatively late at night because all the matches took place according to a time zone which was easily having a time difference of greater than 10 hours....Football WC also meant rooting for your side passionately which was either Germany or Brazil depending on which side you were in (Brother's side or father's side respectively).....Taking either sides didn't really make sense to me .....I wanted to support a third team just to add to the already existing tight competition in the house and to establish a separate identity of my own ..Establishing a separate identity was important because I always felt that all my opinions were overlooked simply because it was felt that I was too small to have an opinion of my own........Now the million dollar question was which side to pick?? Sometimes sheer instinct dictates your choices....It so happened that our good old DD was showing a WC preview series and in each episode they would analyze the title contenders discussing threir apparent strengths and weaknesses....That day it was the turn of Italy.....And almost the entire episode concentrated on just one man -Roberto Baggio....A pony tailed guy who was a poet with the ball...Decision was made then and there ....Italy would be the team I would support and I had found my childhood hero- Roberto Baggio...a footballer I still hold in the highest regard..If there is one reason why I follow football today its because of the Azurris and Mr Baggio......I must say I couldn't follow the tournament as closely as I do it nowadays but still the passion the team ignited within me hasn't diminished....A 10 year old kid cannot put in long hours at night watching football so I don't remember watching any of the games live...and the early morning newspaper too did not have the lastes results because the matches used to begin well past midnight and by the time they ended it was early early morning..So the first thing we did was toi switch on the TV and watch snippets of the matches and hence get to know of the result...Must say my passion for Italy received an early jolt whjen they lost their first match to Bolivia(faintly remember some Sanchez scoring a goal (and yes all this is being written down from whatever I "remember" so some data might be apocryphal)....Italy scrapped through to the 2nd round where they were to meet Nigeria.....Uptil then Baggio had been almost ineffective...while Mr Dino Baggio was garnering more attention for his header against Norway....I remeber the night when the match took place I wasn't able to sleep properly excited about the match and the final result ....Got up at earlky to switch on the TV ...To my relief the Italians had won the match after trailing 1-0 till the fag end...And it was Baggio who had singlehandedly turned the match in our favor with a goal in the dying moments to equalise and then converting a penalty in extra time to clinch victory....(That a penalty would come back to haunt Baggio is another matter altogether) The happiness one gets when the team you root for blindly wins a cliff hanger just can't be put in words....Inspite of all the criticism that had been heaped on me simply because I was supporting a weak side which didn't promise much was all offsetted with this one victory..we were in the quarters!!!....Spaniards were defeated 2-1 if am not wrong with Baggio again being instrumental in the victory...and yes now my team was ready to face off with my brother's team in all probability....My heart swelled with pride ...and was anxiously waiting for that mouth watering encounter......Sports rivalries run very strong in my house. Cricket( Mark vs Steve Waugh), Tennis (Edberg vs Becker) and now football was added to the list...(And this rivalry has outclassed all other sporting rivalries we brothers have had...and it still runs between us...)...Me and my brother have had innumerable fistfights and almost all of them were sporting rivalries which turned ugly after either one started teasing the other guy's team....we've hit each other and have been injured badly in the whole process...My "weary" body still carries a few scars from those epic "encounters".....:-)...Germany' ouster in the quarters to Bulgaria and Italy's entry into the semis meant I could hold my head high in any argument with my brother related to football for the next 4 years ( till the next WC)..:-).....
Anyways, now my passion was at an all time high.....True to my expectation, Italy outclassed Bulgaria and again Baggio was there....This was it .Italy was the best team without an iota of doubt and Baggio was God... Period.....
Meanewhile dad's Brazil had quietly progressed to thje finals and the final showdown was between dad and his younger son ..:-)....
As expected I was not allowed to watch th finals inspite of all the pleadings.....As far as I remember dad did stay up all night to watch the match....and I knew it...so the first thing I did after I woke up bleary eyed was to wake dad up to ask the result.....When he said that Italy had lost the match and hence the cup..I was shattered... I for once hoped dad would be lying ...but that has never been a part of my father's temperament....Baggio's penalty miss at Pasadena is a sight I can never forget...it remains etched in my mind till date.....the crucification that followed too is unforgettable ......
But Baggio had Italy had won one faithful fan for life......Since 1994 I have been supporting Italy and Italian teams, many a times unreasonably but that is something I just cannot give up.....it has become a part of my personality .......