World Cup Playoff: Remembering Italy 1997

25 years on. Relive the Nazionale’s playoff success over Russia.

5 min readMar 23, 2022

Maldini, Albertini, Baggio, Cannavaro and Costacurta. These are some of the names that have made Azzurri fans smile for decades.

There are players that are crushed under pressure, and those that incite ceremonious jubilation. Some players are destined for silverware, some for internet immortalisation.

I invite you to meet Pierluigi Casiraghi’s left boot.

But first, some context. In football — in particular international football — nothing is ever easy. The struggle is forever real, the suffering is perpetual, and somehow, curses must be lifted.

Did You Know?

That it’s possible to remain undefeated and still fail to qualify directly for a tournament? Cesare Maldini led Italy to second place of UEFA Group 2 in 1997, finishing behind England with five wins and three draws.

Sounds familiar, right? Under current manager, Roberto Mancini, Italy — the incumbent Euro Champion — couldn’t be beaten in Group C but still concluded their qualifying campaign in second place.

Italy finished 2nd in both 1997 and 2021 World Cup Qualifying groups

Well, “That’s football”. And aside from platitudes and reckonings, it’s time for Italy to step up and deliver, just like Italy 1997.

In order to appear at FIFA 98, Italy was drawn to play a two-legged playoff with Russia, led by Boris Ignatjev — most recently remembered for his coaching stint at FC Torpedo Moscow in 2013 — and captain Viktor Onopko.

By 1997, scenes of Rocky IV were entrenched in the minds of Azzurri supporters. The away-leg would be no different.

Played in the snow and in front of a hostile crowd at Dinamo Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, Cesare Maldini fielded a physical XI. The intention was to contain the powerful Russian midfield which featured Andrey Kanchelskis of Manchester United and Dmitri Alenichev — the latter signed by Roma the following summer.

Christian Vieri opened the scoring against Russia in October 1997, World Cup Playoff for FIFA 98. Russia’s equaliser game through a Fabio Cannavaro own-goal.

Gianluca Pagliuca started in goal but sustained a first-half injury. Therefore, Parma’s 19-year-old prodigy, Gianluigi Buffon, made his Italy debut — his very first of 176 — in the 32nd-minute.

Captain Paolo Maldini led the five-man backline with Gianluca Pessotto, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Costacurta and Alessandro Nesta.

Dino Baggio and Demetrio Albertini played in support of Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo, while Fabrizio Ravanelli — who’d scored three times in qualifying — was the first pick upfront.

Christian Vieri had just scored two hat tricks for Atletico Madrid the previous week and justified his selection by latching on to a Di Matteo pass, taking advantage of some lackadaisical Russian defending in the *snud, sliding the heavy ball under Benfica’s Sergey Ovchinnikov to take the lead in the 49th-minute.

Cued to when: Christian Vieri latches onto a Di Matteo ball and slides his effort under the Keeper to open the scoring in Moscow. 1–0 Italy.

But the boos and whistles around the stadium soon turned into delight. Dmitri Khokhlov drove in a low, dangerous delivery into a crowded area from the right. Everyone, including Sergey Yuran missed it. That is, everyone except for Fabio Cannavaro, the own-goal unavoidably hitting the Parma defender’s leg on the way in.

First-Leg in Moscow ends 1–1

Cued to when: Khoklov drives low into the area as the ball hits Cannavaro. Own goal and scores are level 1–1.

Second-Leg in Italy

With qualification still in the balance, the stage was set for a Neopolitan second-leg showdown in mid-November. Welcome to the Stadio San Paolo, now known as the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona since 2020.

Even though Italy had defeated Poland here six months prior during the group stage, for many Italians, this stadium wreaked of defeat and bad memories.

In 1990, it was Maradona’s Argentina that eliminated Italy in the World Cup semi-final. With that in mind, and the absence of Vieri through injury, Italy would have to vanquish the demons of yesteryear in order to conquer qualification.

France was about to host FIFA 98. It would have been humiliating for Italy — the 1994 World Cup Finalist — to be denied entry to the party across the border.

Three changes to Cesare Maldini’s XI

Angelo Peruzzi was called in to cover for Pagliuca, as was Napoli-born Ciro Ferrara for Alessando Nesta. Vieri was replaced by Pierluigi Casiraghi — who’d only scored on three occasions for Lazio so far this term, albeit his last goal was against Russian competition, Rotor Volgograd, in the UEFA Cup.

Italy defeated Russia 1–0 at the Stadio San Paolo (Maradona) in November 1997. Pierluigi Casiraghi gets the winner for the Azzurri. www.davidferrini.com

Casiraghi had also scored both goals against Russia — and was named Man of the Match — in Arrigo Sacchi’s 2–1 win at Anfield during Euro 96.

Indeed, this was the man for the job.

The through ball was silky from the left-boot of Demetrio Albertini, lifted perfectly from halfway and over the head of Yuri Kovtun, holding its line and bouncing to the 18-yard line for the expert run of the Nazionale #9.

Onopko is in pursuit. Casiraghi — with two eyes on the prize and unfazed by the Russian captain’s tenacious thrust — strikes it brilliantly across the boot-quakin’ Ovchinnikov to provoke a collective roar throughout the arena.

2–1, Italy had the lead.

Pierluigi Casiraghi with a superb finish to send Italy through to FIFA 98

Now, back then, Casiraghi was known for being injury-prone. He was one of those players — think Theo Hernandez 2022 — that would take his time getting up from any challenges or hits from opponents.

However, upon seeing the ball punch the net, the Azzurri legend was up off the pitch in lightning fashion, comparable to Svetlana Khorkina at the World Gymnastics Championships.

Italy held on to win 2–1 on aggregate, proving to today’s younger generations that the Nazionale is capable of winning a World Cup playoff.

Casiraghi’s thirteenth — and final — goal in an Italy shirt secured his nation’s place at FIFA 98 and abetted to end the curse of yesteryear in Naples.

Positive vibes, please.

I guess I’m here to be the “glass is only half full” guy. This is an occasion where we can summon the spirits of that inspirational Italy squad of 1997 to dissolve the nightmare of 2017.

The Euro 2020 Champion is about to confront its demons. Forza Italia.

*Snud: snow and mud combo