Goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca was at the heart of Italy’s 1994 World Cup campaign, which culminated in one of football’s most iconic penalty shootouts.
The former Sampdoria and Inter Milan stopper, that tournament remains a mixture of personal redemption, near-disaster and a reminder that a whole football career can be defined by a single moment.
More than three decades on, Pagliuca reflects on that summer with both pride and a sense of ‘what if’ that still lingers on.
Pagliuca on his USA 94 journey
The 59-year-old’s tournament began with him making unwanted history when he became the first goalkeeper ever to be sent off at a World Cup when he was dismissed against Norway on the group stage.
“At the time, it felt like a stab to the heart,” Pagliuca recalls to FourFourTwo. “I’d gone to the World Cup with big ambitions and that red card could have cost me my place in the starting XI. I didn’t know what would happen when I returned.
“Luca Marchegiani, my backup, did really well in my absence. He was a friend, but I was worried, as I missed the game against Mexico and the last 16 against Nigeria. Before the quarter-final with Spain, assistant coach Carlo Ancelotti and goalkeeping coach Pietro Carmignani came to my room to tell me I’d be starting again.
“They also told me not to tell Marchegiani, because they’d handle it. I was overjoyed. During dinner, Luca asked if I’d heard anything. I said no, even though I already knew – they’d asked me to keep it secret. We still laugh about it today. Luca was a great keeper and a funny guy.”
Italy would progress to the final, where Pagliuca produced one of the tournament’s iconic moments when he kissed his glove and tapped the post against Brazil after Mauro Silva’s shot went through his hands, hit the upright and came back to him.
“That moment changed my life,” he admits. “If that ball had gone in, we would have lost the final because of my mistake. I’d have been scarred forever. I would have kept playing, but the error would have defined me. Just think about what happened to Walter Zenga during the 1990 World Cup semi-final, when Caniggia’s header ended Italy’s dream – that World Cup should have been ours, we were the stronger side.
“So yes, that post saved my life, and my future. Today, everybody remembers the kiss to the post and not the fumble. I was lucky – it came down to a matter of inches.”
Pagliuca’s luck would run out in that final, however, as Italy went on to lose the final on penalties.
“At first, when you lose a final like that, it doesn’t fully sink in,” he continues. “You tell yourself you lost and life goes on. The real awareness comes 20 or 30 years later, when you realise what you actually lost. Those are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
“Look at Italy’s 2006 team: they’re all heroes today because they won on penalties. We lost and history remembers us differently. Life can change in a matter of seconds – or centimetres.”
