FOOTBALL'S CUP OF JOY

The 1982 World Cup semi-final and final took India to a place it had not been to. One that felt well lived-in by the time Messi bounced with the bald, gold statuette

- Dhiman Sarkar

They made Italy world champions after 42 years but Paolo Rossi's goals would struggle to make the longlist of memorable strikes in the World Cup.

They were not in the range of, say, Carlos Alberto’s goal in the 1970 final, the cannonball of a shot finishing a move to which all Brazil outfield players contributed, Saeed Al Owairan’s mazy, 69 metre run in 1994 or Kylian Mbappe’s stupendous and powerful volley in the last final.

Yet, Rossi would be central to any conversation on the World Cup in India. Not because of the slightly built centre-forward's brilliant comeback after being banned for involvement in betting — a charge he denied till his death in 2020 — or a preternatural ability to find space and remain calm in the penalty box. But because his brace against Poland in the semi-final of the 1982 edition was the first live telecast of a World Cup match in India.

More small men dazzled with Pierre Littbarski and Alain Giresse scoring, Jean Tigana running the midfield and Manuel Amoros hitting the framework in the epic West Germany-France semi-final that followed.

In shorts so short that they were barely visible over the “Les Bleus” shirt, India saw the artistry of Michel Platini and Karl Heinz Rummenigge’s ability to haul West Germany from the brink of defeat leading to the first penalty shootout in World Cup history. Marco Tardelli’s primeval scream after making it 2-0 in the final stayed in the mind as India had not seen anything like this. Fabio Grosso stoked those memories in the 2006 semi-final connecting two generations of champion Azzurri sides.