Soccer in 1982 in India's northeast - idyllic education hub - through radio commentary. DD-inspired Television came later that first during Asiad 82. And then it stayed on in state capitals and important hubs in the region.
So technically speaking - one had not seen the goals he scored against Brazil. Of course - one 'listened and heard over it' !!
Rossi scored a brilliant hat-trick to beat the favourites and put Italy through to ultimately win the tournament
SENSATION ... still mattered !!
Fifteen minutes before the end in the critical match against Brazil,
Rossi swivelled to turn a Marco Tardelli shot goal-bound to complete what was a fairly unspectacular hat-trick in terms of the way the goals were scored.
However, a 'momentous occasion' in the history is written like that. The same applied to World Cup victory.
In one of the competition’s finest ever games, Rossi had eliminated arguably the greatest team not to win it.
Italian national Team manager Enzo Bearzot had taken a contentious decision to include Rossi in his 1982 World Cup squad.
The striker kept 'failing' ... to find the net in each of his country’s first four games.
But that day in July, however, Rossi repaid his manager’s faith.
Wearing the now-iconic No. 20 shirt, he re-wrote his own legacy.
Paolo Rossi, who inspired Italy to their World Cup triumph of 1982, was the only player after the introduction of the Golden Ball award in 1982 to have won the World Cup, finished as top scorer and taken the Golden Ball award as the best player, all at the same World Cup.
“I think the most beautiful thing is the knowledge that you did something not only for yourself but knowing that in that moment you made millions of people happy” he later recalled.
Italy’s 1982 World Cup triumph had at times seemed like a one man Rossi show.
They had started the tournament poorly with three draws and only just squeezed through to the second group stage.
But then the team sprang into life.
Coach Enzo Bearzot banned any contact with the press and the outside world and it paid dividends, bringing the group closer together.
Moments after Rossi had scored the first goal; Zico and captain Sócrates combined wonderfully to cancel it out.
"Rossi struck again not long after, gratefully pouncing on a careless Brazilian square pass before confidently sending the ball to the left of a helpless Waldir Peres in goal.
Falcão levelled things up on 68-minutes, unleashing a rasping left-footed rocket into the top right-hand corner of the net and producing a suitably vein-popping celebration to match," goes a piece in worldfootballindex.com.
Rossi’s defining moment came with the third goal he scored --- his finest hour-(and-a-bit) that, as described by presenter Enrico Varriale, who Rossi worked alongside as a pundit at RAI Sport during his final years: “made us all fall in love in that summer.”
Paolo Rossi competes for the ball with Júnior of Brazil during the 1982 World Cup.
Paolo Rossi, who has died aged 64 of lung cancer on Dec 9, 2020 became a national hero in Italy after scoring six times in the 1982 World Cup tournament in Spain, including a crucial first goal in the 3-1 victory over West Germany in the final.
"That win was a cathartic moment for the nation, which had been subject to significant social and political unrest for a number of years and, despite being regarded as one of the world’s premier footballing nations," says an article in 'The Guardian'.
“To me the first goal (against Brazil) was the most important one, the one that let me open up. I had not scored in that World Cup before, and to me the first one was the one that broke the ice. I felt liberated," -- Rossi had said.
With his performance, Rossi even impressed the referee of the game, Abraham Klein from Israel.
Klein stated: “On the field I met a humble player, who never argued with the referees. His abilities were manifested in the marvellous 90 minutes on the grass field. In my judgement Paolo was one of the greatest football players ever.”
Klein himself took away a very special souvenir from the match: The original matchball.
This ball is now on display at the FIFA Museum after Klein donated it to the FIFA Museum in 2017 together with several other objects from his personal collection.
ends
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