TRA PAGLIUCA E MALDINI… (this posting is ode to Gianluca Pagliuca actually)

C’è concorrenza!
Eh, yes…between Pagliuca and Maldini, there is a heating rivalry of making a record in Italian soccer history as the player with the most caps in serie A. Right now Maldini is leading with 597 caps, and Pagliuca 590.
I don’t know if Pagliuca really cares about this (based on game duration, he already won because you know if you’re a goalkeeper, you are rarely replaced unless seriously injured or red-carded) but I found myself eagerly waiting for him to beat Maldini’s record! (no offense, Milanisti!).

That’s why I was so disappointed to know that all some remaining matches (including Ascoli vs Milan that I was all ready to watch!) were cancelled due to a riot in a stadium during the match of Catania vs Palermo that killed one policeman, and so the whole league is now stopped for awhile (thanks to Daniele for keeping me updated about this).

I mean, how often can you see Ascoli play on TV now they’re in the last place? I feel a little bit sentimental about Pagliuca right now because this might be the last season for him before he retires. And even since I was 14, I wrote to him every season, to wish him well. And guess what, he never failed to reply!

I’ve been a great fan of him since he played for Inter, and then moved to Bologna, and now Ascoli. I missed the period where he played for Sampdoria and was given a nickname “Re della Samp” because I was too small to understand about football back then.

I liked it when he played as the number one goalie of Italian national team, and I remembered my fervent prayers for him once, when the world cup 1998 was about to begin. Amongst the budding younger Italian goalies, he still made it to be number two before Angelo Peruzzi, and I know that unless he became the number one, there’s no way I could see him play for azzurri (cos again, a number one goalkeeper is rarely replaced during the game and even for the whole tournament, you know). And so I did not want him to sit on the bench as a substitute! I think it was a week before the world cup begun, I read that Peruzzi was injured and could not go to France, and so Pagliuca became the number one. I truly did not pray anything bad against Peruzzi, honest, but I was just so happy to have Pagliuca play again. And even when finally Italy had to loose through a penalty shoot-out against France, I think Pagliuca is a million much better than Barthez!

Really, I don’t think I will ever like any footballer as much as I like him. I like the way he jumps and climbs up his post and hangs in there for awhile watching the ball fly to high above his goal. I like the way he puffed his cheeks and kissed the post in relief when it blocked the ball from going in. I even like his decision to let himself be red-carded once in world cup 1994, for it was rather a sacrificial and heroic red card, and not a foolish one like Beckham or Zidane got. Yes he’s a bit eccentric sometimes, but never obnoxious.


Yeah, it’s been years, and oh, I really wish he would play some more years, though I’ve witnessed him jump, catch, block, kick, and punch the ball, saving his team(s) million times. I was there greeting my teeth in anger when Giuseppe Pancaro dared to spit in his face and understood when he ran after him to give him a punch, or when someone (I think it was Nicola Caccia) pulled his pants off and yet he still had other thing (the ball) to worry about. And I will not forget that snowy night in Russia when he had to be carried out of the field, badly injured. I went back to bed, tears in my eyes and nervously waited for tomorrow to come to find out how he was doing (yes, yes, yes, I only watched those on tv, sometimes at night, sometimes at dawn, but the feelings were real, you know).


And some of my friends asked me in wonder. They said, “Why do you like this guy so much? What benefits will you get if his team wins?” But they just didn’t understand, that even if he gives me nothing but the blues, I still go for him!

Until now, I still keep the collection of the cuts-outs about him that I arranged in a book, along with all the autographed postcards he sent me, and a historical handwriting note (that made me start learning Italian!)

Too bad, age creeps like a thief and so now he’s thinking of retiring soon, if Ascoli remains in serie A next season. I really hope that his son Mattia (age 7), will be a great footballer someday, as his father has been.
Viva Pagliuca!