The “Divine pigtail” recalls the exclusion with bitterness: “I should have gone even with one leg. I had done three World Cups in a certain way, that would have been the fourth”
I World Cup 2002, those in Japan and South Korea, are remembered for Byron Moreno’s refereeing which conditioned Italy’s elimination at the hands of South Korea in the round of 16. But also for the decision of the then Coach Giovanni Trapattoni to leave Roberto Baggio at home because he had returned to the field with Brescia three days before the end of the championship after undergoing an operation to rupture the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
“I should have gone to the World Cup even with one leg”
“Giovanni Trapattoni’s failure to be called up to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea? A wound remains”. This is how Roberto Baggio defined his exclusion from what would have been his fourth World Cup and he hasn’t changed his mind. “That it was a shameful thing that for a thousand reasons it will hardly pass. I’ve never explained it to myself, I just think that I should have gone even with one legfor what I had represented. I had done three World Cups in a certain way, that would have been the fourththe story had to end like this. It was a betrayal.”
“They could have taken me to the retreat and then assessed the conditions”
“But then all of Japan would have been rooting for us – added the former Divin Codino -. I returned from injury for the last three games in incredible conditioni, I remember the tests I did in Bologna, and in fact I scored 3 goals in 3 games, in general in that championship 11 goals in 11 games”. “There was more than a month left before the start of the World Cup, they could take me to the retreat and then evaluate the conditions. Instead…”, added the former playmaker of Fiorentina, Juve, Inter and Milan.