Claudio Caniggia's legendary exploits in the 1990 World Cup
Claudio Caniggia is a very interesting character in the history of Argentinian football. While he doesn't have a lot of worldwide popularity and is not that known in many places, his career with the Argentinian national team was the stuff of legends. Add to that his iconic long, blonde mane and his speed, and you have a legend in the making.
The arrival to the competition
rgentina had arrived at the competition with enough arguments to compete for the trophy. They not only won the tournament in the previous edition back in 1986 in Mexico but they also retained their biggest asset, Diego Armando Maradona, at his best level. While some of the core players had either retired or moved past their prime, the national team's head coach, Carlos Salvador Bilardo, ever the leader and pragmatic, knew how to get the best out of them.Claudio Caniggia, nicknamed "The Son of the Wind" in Argentina, hadn't been a part of the 1986 side but he gave the group much-needed youthful excitement. He was a striker but had pace to burn and he arrived at the World Cup during his second year in Italy and the first one with Atalanta (the first season had been with Hellas Verona), so is safe to say that Claudio knew the country quite well.
While Maradona still delivered in the competition, it's important to point out that Caniggia is widely viewed as the difference-maker for Argentina's arrival to the final against Germany. So much so that a lot of Argentinians believe they would have won the competition if "The Son of the Wind" had been available for that match.
Caniggia's influence in the competition
Despite being a key component for Argentina's run to the final, Caniggia's exploits began with the defending champions' loss against Cameroon in the opening game of the group stage. Claudio entered as a sub in the second half and caused enough havoc to get two Cameroonian players sent off, although that wasn't enough to keep his team from losing 1-0 in one of the competition's biggest-ever upsets.Argentina defeated the Soviet Union and drew against Romania to qualify for the round of 16 where they would face Brazil. These two teams always have had a long-standing rivalry, which is why facing each other in a World Cup was a major event and one of the most important matches in the history of South American football.
The Argentinian striker was also quite useful and dangerous as they defeated Yugoslavia on penalties in the quarterfinals after a 0-0 draw and he scored Argentina's goal in the 1-1 draw against the home side, Italy, reaching the final through penalties. A lot of critics mentioned that Argentina only managed to reach the final through sheer luck, which is something that Caniggia himself, in an interview with TNT Sports back in 2020, disagreed with:
"I looked at those teams. Some say 'Argentina was lucky'. That's a minimum of luck you can have. We faced great teams throughout the championship. That's not said. We started with the African champion, Cameroon, who almost arrived to the semi-final. The Soviet Union, Romania... Brazil, let's not even talk about Brazil. Yugoslavia, the best Yugoslav team in all of history. Italy, Germany. We faced great teams. Luck is minimal."
They were great teams and Caniggia played a pivotal role, not only by scoring goals but also by being an overall attacking threat that Bilardo's side needed. However, "The Son of the Wind" picked up a yellow card in the semifinal that kept him from playing the final, which Argentina ultimately lost against Germany and was the cause of a lot of heartbreak, especially considering that his absence has created the debate on whether they would have won with him playing.
Caniggia's contributions in numbers
It's easy to boil down Caniggia's contributions in the 1990 World Cup as simply scoring two important goals, and while that would be enough to say he was a key element in Bilardo's side during that tournament, his contributions were a lot more prominent. While football statistics were not as detailed back then as they are now, there are some key points that highlight how important Claudio Caniggia was for Argentina.For example, not only did he score those two important goals for Argentina against Brazil and Italy, two of the biggest favorites in the competition, but he also was the only player who scored more than once for Bilardo's team. He was also the player with the most successful amount of dribbles for Argentina (19) and the third in the competition behind the likes of Yugoslavia's Dragan Stojkovic (22) and England's Paul Gascoigne (30).
Caniggia was also the player in the squad with the most touches in the opposition's box (22), which highlights the kind of movements he did during the competition. This is very important to point out because he had a lot of pace but could also move inside the box with a lot of expertise.
If Argentina were to defend their title during the World Cup 1990, Claudio Caniggia would have been a greater name in football history today. In Argentina though, he is remembered as a player that made a great impression that summer, and he is remembered for that until this day.
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