On This Day – 5th July
The 1994 World Cup in the USA was to be a hugely disappointing one for Gianfranco Zola.
The Italian playmaker had been a spectator for all three of Italy’s group stage games. Zola finally got the nod though in the Second Round in the knockout match against Nigeria as he made his World Cup debut on this day back in 1994.
Nigeria had taken a surprise lad after 25 minutes through Emmanuel Amunike and try as they might, Italy just couldn’t break the African’s defence down.
With 65 minutes on the clock, Sacchi brought Zola on for Giuseppe Signori hoping that the short Parma man could help find Italy an equaliser.
It took Gianfranco Zola just ten minutes to change the game and sadly it was for all the wrong reasons!
He was dispossessed in the Nigeria penalty area and chased after the ball. When trying to get the ball back from a Nigerian defender, he knocked his opponent to the ground and the referee believed that he had lashed out and committed a foul. A straight red card was shown.
As you can see in the video below, Zola (understandably!) didn’t take the decision well. He would not play again in the 1994 tournament.
Italy won the game 2-1 after extra-time and reached the Final where they lost on penalties to Brazil in one of the dullest World Cup Finals of all-time.
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