17 October: Goycochea, the substitute who saved penalties

Sergio Goycochea

A substitute in Italy

He came through at River Plate, where he was nearly always the reserve, and in 1990 he arrived at the World Cup with very few games under his belt as Bilardo's second-choice goalkeeper. In the second game, against the Soviet Union, first-choice Nery Pumpido collided with a team-mate and broke his leg. Goycochea came on and never came off.

Florence and Naples

Argentina, the holders, stumbled through. In the last sixteen they beat Brazil 1-0 with Maradona's famous pass to Caniggia. In the quarter-final, in Florence against Yugoslavia, the game ended 0-0 and Goycochea saved two penalties in the shoot-out.

In the semi-final, at the San Paolo in Naples, Maradona's ground, against hosts Italy, there were penalties again. Goycochea saved from Donadoni and from Serena, and Argentina were in the final. In the final in Rome, against West Germany, a Brehme penalty five minutes from time gave the title to the Germans. Goycochea guessed the right way but could not reach it.

The ritual

He himself told, years later and with plenty of humour, that before the shoot-out against Yugoslavia he had to relieve himself on the pitch because there was no time to go to the dressing room, and that since it worked, he did it again before the one against Italy. The anecdote is now part of Argentine football folklore.

With Argentina he won the 1991 and 1993 Copas América, the latter again with saves in shoot-outs. He later became a well-known television presenter and pundit.

Another 51 internationally known footballers were born on this day. We do not list them for the sake of it: only those with a story to tell make it here.

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