There were no cell phones. Nor, social networks. Not to mention the system on demand. On April 22, 1990, hours before getting on the plane without suspecting that he would live an unforgettable Italian summer, Sergio GoycocheaHe called his father and gave him a mission: to record on the VHS every time the camera focused on the bank. And he especially asked him not to miss the videograph with the formations for anything in the world. He was proud that his last name was reflected on the screen, even though he was a supporting actor. He never imagined, even in his warmest dreams, the end of the movie.
So now, 30 years after World ’90, lives such strong feelings. And a tickle shakes his body when, at the request of Clarion, he goes back to diving the most wonderful days of his career. It is black, with green strips and a multicolored chest. The one who wore the afternoon that was invincible against Brazil in Turin; the day he started to become a hero against Yugoslavia in Florence; the magical night of the penalties against Italy in Naples, the house of Diego Maradona.
“An auction company wanted to buy it for me. They offered $ 50,000. It is the only one that I keep and it is priceless“He assures.
Goyco celebrates and Donadoni laments. Another epic Basque moment. Photo: Archive
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The resignation of Luis Islas, the injury of Nery Pumpido and a door that unexpectedly opens for an archer who wasn’t even in the figurine album. “I never thought I could play. Really. In the worst case scenario, as much as we started losing, Carlos (Bilardo) made several modifications, but Pumpido continued on goal against the Soviet Union. The tactical change of goalkeeper in a World Cup is impossible. Except for an injury or expulsion, which on the other hand was difficult because we could receive from a teammate behind and catch the ball with our hands, there were no such plays that put us at risk. And although I did not go for a walk, I knew I was going to watch the World Cup in the front row and with the audience paying. I did not generate another expectation. It was an achievement to be on the list, but my chances of tackling, very remote, “admits hand in hand with this newspaper.
-When after the defeat with Cameroon you heard Bilardo say “If we return in the first round I prefer that the plane crash before returning to the country”Didn’t you think “Where did I go?”?
-I already knew where he was. What we were sure of in the group is that he was serious. We didn’t even get on Bilardo’s plane, we said. Because he didn’t make a joke. That was the feeling. It was very strong. And he said some other irreproducible things. The talk was great, it was like a knockout blow. He gave us a dagger to make us react. It deflected the pressure. We knew Carlos, he had instilled in us feeling things that way. A World Cup is every four years, we lost in the debut and we had run out of margin.
Everyone’s hugs for Goyco after the series of penalties against Italy. Photo: Archive
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-You always say that it made you more nervous to play against Romania than to rush in against the Soviet Union. Were you an unconscious?
-I realized Nery wasn’t fucking. There was the play in the area and you have to be very stupid to play when the ball is buoyant out there, they can score a goal for you. What I never assumed was that it was going to be so serious. I entered and the truth, I do not say it irresponsibly, I did it calmly. Mind you, it’s not like I didn’t realize where I was. If we lost we were out, but I didn’t feel that burden. I was lucky that in the corner of the first play there was a half hand from Diego and the referee did not see it. Then I covered one or two and sat down. I needed that ball, it is not the same for the player who enters and they lend it a little in the middle of the field to release the tension. They kick you in the arch and you have to be 100% sure. Don’t forget that I came 6 months without playing. And now that I think about it, and look, I gave many interviews all these years, I don’t know what Carlos would have done if the situation in Islas had happened before. Pumpido was a starter; Luis, the second. And the third place was between (Julio) Falcioni and me. We both arrived in the same conditions. He cut short in America and I in Millionaires. And the Colombian tournament had been suspended because they killed a referee. I never asked him. Perhaps he would have chosen another with more continuity. Then came Romania. But in the middle there were four days. And there you start to think, you fall that you are going to play. And just (Angel) Comizzo came from Argentina and there was a lot of talk. Until Bilardo told me he was going to start and gave me all the confidence.
Sergio Goycochea, in force at 56, with the same physique as three decades ago.
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-Did you ever tackle better than against Brazil?
-In the selection? Only in the Qualifiers against Peru. What happens is that against Brazil there were many shots on the sticks and great drama. They reached us a lot. For the quality of the rival, for the instance we were playing, it was the best match.
-Did you feel more tension against Italy, because it was the pass to the final, or against Yugoslavia, because you had to stand up for Diego, who had missed the penalty?
-Not only for Diego; also, by the team. That is the hinge party, against Yugoslavia. The penalty kick (Dragoljub) Brnovic kicked me was the most emotionally difficult. Pedro (Troglio) had failed and if they put him in, they went to the front. The fifth prison was different. If they did, at most I would have followed the series. With (Roberto) Donadoni and (Aldo) Serena we always had one more chance to finish. That is why the prison against the Yugoslavs was more intense.
Goycochea flies in the San Paolo and gives Argentina a new joy in Italy 90.
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-In those days there was not so much technology or big data, had you studied kickers? Did Bilardo contribute videos?
-There wasn’t even an archer coach. In the warm-up, he did not go out on the court, as now happens. We trained in the locker room. They kicked me (Fabián) Cancelich or Comizzo. Carlos gave you information, but it was much scarcer now. Bilardo did not like that archers come to talk a lot, he thought they confused you. But (Gabriel) Calderón had told me how (Faruk) Hadzibegic kicked, I knew him because they had played together at Betis. It was a decisive penalty, it was very rare that he tried something new. And he ended up kicking for that side.
-Many times they asked you what the formula is, as if you had in your hands the secret of the soda. Do you stop to think about those moments?
– You think, really, there is time to analyze the situation. It’s kind of crazy because in 15 or 20 seconds you have to solve and that’s how you play your head in high competition. You have to be super focused. Weird things come your way. What can happen, where can it happen, you have to evaluate everything as if it were happening at full speed.
-What did you lack to cover Andreas Brehme’s penalty? Did you blame yourself for something?
-Boot it down, technically that. If it had started as the first penalty … It was to touch it a little bit. But it had just the right strength, almost perfect precision. I had seen Brehme. He kicked all the stopped balls in Germany. He played on the left side, but he handled both legs. And from the way he stood up, I thought he was going to get a strong bead on him. So he had scored a goal for the Netherlands, engaging. It was a very incorporated punch, I never imagined that I was going to rake it.
Brehme and the execution of his penalty in the final of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. (Photo: Clarín Archive).
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-Did you cross Edgardo Codesal again?
-Never. For me it was not criminal. Later, I see it on TV and it may even seem that I do. But (Roberto) Sensini touches the ball first, he doesn’t need a foul to win the position on (Rudi) Voeller.
-For many you were a national hero and your fame exploded to unthinkable levels after the World Cup. How did you handle it?
-As I could, learning, because one does not prepare to be famous. I left on April 22 as an ordinary player and returned with a status of popular. You start walking and they begin to carve the values that your old people taught you, what you want from life, how you were raised … At one point my head exploded. People followed me, the girls, I was learning to be a husband because I had married Ana Laura six months before the World Cup … It was all new. I pulled it out pretty well, it’s not easy. Not to mention if that happens to you now with so much technology. I had a certain shelter, but still, when I returned from Italy I had to go live in a hotel because everyone rang my bell at home. There was the one who came to greet you and the one who thought that because he had saved 4 penalties he had 100 million dollars.
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– – “You never thought it would have happened if Pumpido wasn’t injured?” -Ha … I wouldn’t have gotten popular status, that’s for sure. I would have continued playing soccer. And capable that he was champion in another team. But the World Cup is the World Cup. Today people cross me and tell you about the 90’s moments, what they were doing at that moment. There are kids in their thirties who were very young at the time and they talk to me about those games as if they had lived it. It is true that I continued working in the media, but it surprises me. -Why do you think that runner-up is valued and not the one that Argentina achieved in 2014? You are at the altar and you were not a champion. -It is very difficult to get into the psychology of millions of people, but I think it has to do with the time, the relationship that the National Team had with people at that time. Later, in that squad there were 7 world champions, four years ago those players had given the Argentines an impressive joy. So, we gathered that affection and that affection. And it also has to do with the circumstances in which it happened: we started losing, the Hymn freaked us out, the injured… People saw that we got there because we made an incredible effort. And there were strong parties. We beat Brazil for the only time in the World Cups, we eliminated Italy and many of them were left who stole from us in the final.
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