Costa Rica didn’t exactly break a gasket when qualifying for their first World Cup in 1990. They beat Panama 3-1 on aggregate and then received a walkover against Mexico after the Mexicans infringed age eligibility rules.
Hey presto, Costa Rica were going to Italia ’90.
We all know how it turned out. Juan Cayasso is an immortal, a player who means so much to people who weren’t even born when he scored his country’s first ever goal at a World Cup – against Scotland, of course.
He’s probably the ultimate Scotland bogeyman, one of nine children, a player they called ‘el Nene’ – the Kid. He was the one who got the only goal at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on 11 June, 1990. Disaster for Scotland. Again.
“Children stop me in the street to greet me and say, ‘you’re Cayasso, the one my dad told me scored a goal in 1990’.” He did and it was the reason why Scotland tumbled out of the tournament early.
Cayasso said that his goal was written in the stars. “We were playing so bad I thought we had not much chance before going to the World Cup.”
He reckoned without Scotland getting the wobbles once more.
“I don’t know if I remember it because I always see it on video,” Cayasso said some years ago. “But I could never be prepared for that moment.
“My team-mate Claudio Jara, knocked the ball to me – we call it a taquito here. I was close to him, I step back and when he does the taquito I read it. At first, I’m like, ‘oh…’ I’m frightened. But then I have to react, it’s at my foot.
“Jimmy (Leighton) is out. Then it hits his belly and goes over him. I turn around and look at the referee, and he’s going to the centre of the field.
“First I’m frightened, then I don’t believe it, then, ‘yes, goal’. I had gone far away in that moment. My mind was all about Costa Rica. I wrote a book called ‘The Goal from Italia 90: Destiny, Luck or Chance’. It was so crazy.”
Cayasso’s goal helped earn Costa Rica a place in the knockouts – they lost 4-1 to Czechoslovakia – and from the country’s president, a gift of a Toyota Corolla. All the team got one.
It also won him a move to German football with Stuttgart Kickers. He won promotion to the Bundesliga with them.
Cayasso won 49 caps, but one stands above all others. Unforgettable in two different countries but very different reasons.
Source:
www.bbc.com
