Argentina Beats Yugoslavia
LEAD: Argentina's unlikely path in the World Cup took another fortuitous turn today as the defending champion withstood a courageous team from Yugoslavia and stultifying heat to win on penalty kicks and advance to the semifinals Tuesday in Naples.
Argentina's unlikely path in the World Cup took another fortuitous turn today as the defending champion withstood a courageous team from Yugoslavia and stultifying heat to win on penalty kicks and advance to the semifinals Tuesday in Naples.
This was winning at its most tedious, and in so many ways, typical of the kind of tournament the South Americans have been having, surviving as much as succeeding, hardly reminding anyone of their predecessors of four years before.
Oh sure, there's Diego Maradona, who basks in his reputation as the world's best player. He hasn't been this month and wasn't again today, when a poor bit of his strategy nearly wrecked his team before it won on penalty kicks, 3-2, after a scoreless tie.
Final Kicks Fail
Sergio Goycochea, the Argentine goalie, stopped Yugoslavia's last two penalty kicks.
The victory came in the worst way for a soccer team: through the parade of kicks that succeed or fail as much by luck as by anything else.
The Yugoslavs, playing with a one-man disadvantage for the last 89 of 120 minutes, tried to step up the pace at times. The Argentines didn't, and the overall effect was like a couple of heavyweights, fatigued and spent, bashing each other in the final stages of a big match.
For the winners, though, the style and outcome were merely variations on a theme. After winning the tournament four years ago in Mexico, the South Americans have stumbled and stammered, just getting by.
They lost to the upstart Cameroonians to open the tournament. They beat a bad Soviet team. They tied the Romanians, who were better than anyone thought. Then, after Brazil outplayed them nearly the entire game, they won, 1-0.
Not Like in Mexico
'Even the game against Cameroon, we had to play our best,' Maradona said today. 'I didn't think it was going to be so difficult to get to this point in the tournament. In Mexico, it was so much easier.'
For much of the game today, the Argentines seemed formless, and worse, highly susceptible to the Yugoslavs' incursions down the wings, deep into the corners. In the first few minutes alone, Yugoslavia had several scoring chances off well-placed centering passes.
Then came a critical play: Refik Sabanadzovic, the defender marking Maradona who had promised he would not need to foul him, brought him down from behind with a sliding tackle and was given a yellow card of caution from the referee, Kurt Rothlingsberger of Switzerland. Sabanadzovic protested and drew a red card, and was sent off.
Fifty-nine minutes remained in regulation time alone.
While both teams adjusted, the effect was minimal. Argentina still had problems getting the ball through the midfield, and Yugoslavia, which seemed to create many more scoring opportunities even with a man down, left them unfulfilled.
A Nullified Goal
Toward the end of the 30-minute extra time, Argentina appeared to have broken through. After Tomislav Ivkovic, the Yugoslav goalkeeper, stopped a shot from the right, the ball popped free, and Jorge Burruchaga played it into the nets. It appeared to hit his upper body, and Rothlingsberger called a hand ball, which nullified the apparent goal.
'I did not hit the ball with my hand,' Burruchaga said later, pointing to his left hip. 'It hit here.'
That was the closest either team got to scoring until the extra time ended. That brought on the penalty kicks. Jose Serrizuela of Argentina was first, and he sent his kick past Ivkovic into the nets. Dragan Stojkovic followed, and he boomed one toward Goycochea. But the ball bounded off the crossbar.
The next two shooters succeeded, which brought Maradona to the spot, 12 yards from the goal line. Ivkovic easily caught Maradona's lazy, left-footed chip shot to the goalkeeper's, and when Dejan Savicevic netted his attempt, the tally was even, 2-2.
But just as luck seemed to favor the Yugoslavs, as Pedro Troglio sent his shot bouncing off the right post, it ran out for them for good. Goycochea stopped Yugoslavia's final two efforts with diving saves to seal the victory.
WORLD CUP '90