With the pressure of a nation on his shoulders, Claudio Taffarel gave 160 million Brazilians their wish.
When the World Cup came down to a shootout for the first time ever, when he and Italy's Gianluca Pagliuca were forced to duel it out like Wild West gunslingers before a world-wide audience estimated at 2 billion, Taffarel walked away the winner, sending his teammates into ecstatic leaps of joy."I don't consider myself the hero of this team," Taffarel said. "Surely the heroes were all 11 of us."
Just a short time ago, many fans wanted Taffarel off the team. But after stopping Daniele Massaro's penalty kick and watching Roberto Baggio's sail over the net, Taffarel became a national savior who will be remembered as the man who won the first shootout in a World Cup final, 3-2.
"I didn't want to go to penalty kicks," Taffarel said. "Penalty kicks are a lottery and nobody likes to arrive at a penalty-kick decision."
In the passion-driven world of soccer, it's unusual for a goalkeeper to be criticized in one country. Taffarel managed to be maligned in two.
Most of the year, the 28-year-old is in Europe, where he has spent four seasons in the Italian League. Parma, a middle-sized club, didn't want him after the 1992-93 season and dealt him to tiny Reggiana, one of Italy's underdog clubs. His contract ran out, and he has yet to re-sign.
"At the moment I am without a job," he said. "Tomorrow I'll be thinking about a new employer and new team."
Through all the criticism, Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira kept the faith. And on Sunday, his faith was rewarded.
"I did it my way," Parreira said. "Without changing anything, without giving in, at no time was I worried."
With the day growing long and the smog beginning to rise, Italy won the toss and elected to shoot first. Taffarel and Pagliuca, who are friends, walked toward the goal together.
"We basically told each other the winner was going to be the team that was predestined to win it,' Taffarel said.
The world's most expensive players each took turns walking up to the penalty spot, 12 yards away. Up came Franco Baresi, captain of Italy and AC Milan, the European champion. Taffarel stared and Baresi missed the top of the net. He fell to the ground, but Taffarel walked out to console him.
"I told him what a great player he still was," Taffarel said.
After Pagliuca stopped Marcio Santos, Demetrio Albertini and Alberigo Evani scored when Taffarel guessed wrong.
Taffarel had first gained fame with penalty kicks. In the 1988 Olympic semifinal, he stopped three against West Germany - one during the game and two in the shootout.
But that is history now. And Italy was sending up more shooters hoping to snatch that elusive fourth Cup.
Massaro, who got Italy to the second round of the World Cup with a goal against Mexico, sent a shot to Taffarel's left. The goalkeeper parried the ball safely aside.
"A lot of luck is involved in a penalty kick," Taffarel said. "The goalkeeper normally tries to pass all the responsibility on to the kicker. So since I guessed right, it looked like an easy save."
Dunga then beat Pagliuca, putting Brazil up 3-2 and bringing on Baggio - the best player in the world.
Taffarel circled the net to gather his thoughts. He got on his line and stared. And Baggio put the ball over the crossbar.
The goalkeeper jumped high.
Baggio fell, looking as though he were mortally wounded.
Seconds later, Taffarel was running around the field with a Brazilian flag atop his head. In Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and the rest of Brazil, millions ran into the streets. The Italian players cried, and coach Arrigo Sacchi and soccer federation head Antonio Matarrese cried on each other's shoulders.
The most-watched duel in history was over.