\n<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Hey presto, Costa Rica were going to Italia ’90.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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.” <\/p>\n
He reckoned without Scotland getting the wobbles once more.<\/p>\n
“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. <\/p>\n
“My team-mate Claudio Jara, knocked the ball to me \u2013 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\u2026’ I’m frightened. But then I have to react, it’s at my foot. <\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
It also won him a move to German football with Stuttgart Kickers. He won promotion to the Bundesliga with them. <\/p>\n
Cayasso won 49 caps, but one stands above all others. Unforgettable in two different countries but very different reasons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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