The World Cups are almost always counted by the same names. Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Zidane, Messi, Ronaldos. They are the big stars whose achievements occupy books, documentaries and historical debates about the gods of football Olympus. There is, however, another magical side to the World Championships that lives beyond the announced geniuses. He lives, often, in the men no one expected, in the unlikely heroes who, I confess, keep me glued to the screen, every four years, with greater expectation and enthusiasm than the great figures on the poster.
There is something deeply human about unexpected heroes. In those who arrive at the World Cup as simple extras, in media anonymity, and end up revealing themselves to the world on the stage most dreamed of by any child who has ever kicked a ball. Perhaps because they are closer to us, ordinary mortals, than the unreachable Pelés and Maradonas, they are the ones who remind us, every four years, that we can all, after all, live out our childhood dreams, even if it’s just for a moment, for a game, or, sometimes, even for an entire championship.
From the World Cups of my childhood, I remember both the hand of God and Maradona’s goal of the century, as well as the windmill kick Manuel Negrete in Mexico86. Until then, a perfect unknown on this side of the Atlantic, the Mexican earned, with that goal against Bulgaria in the round of 16, a prominent place in the almanac of world championships and a contract to come and play in Europe: he landed precisely in Portugal, at Sporting, where he would last just one season, but still confirmed his predestination for “artistic” goals.
Four years later, we had Itália90, the World Cup Toto Schilaccia striker with a CV as modest as his figure, but who ended up as the tournament’s top scorer and symbol of the famous Notti Magiche that led to Squadra Azzurra until the semi-finals.
And, of course, this was also “grandpa’s” World Cup. Roger Millaan exotic dancer who became a global sensation, aged 38, dancing next to the corner flag for each unlikely goal as Cameroon became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals. Even more incredible: Milla would repeat the party four years later, in the USA94, and is still the oldest player to score in World Cups (42 years and 39 days).
In this championship played on American soil, another name gained the right to be remembered forever, by dodging practically the entire Belgian team that appeared in front of it, in a rush from area to area until beating one of the best goalkeepers of that time, Michel Preud’homme (remember, Benfica fans?). I speak of Saeed Al-Owairana Saudi Arabian midfielder who scored one of the most iconic goals in the competition and went viral even before there was social media. Furthermore, they secured a 1-0 victory that made Saudi Arabia only the second Asian team to reach the first round.
These stories are repeated in different accents, eras and continents. Let’s go back to 1966, for example, to the Portuguese World Cup debut, and we find Pak Doo-ikthe North Korean soldier who scored the goal that defeated Italy in the first phase and qualified the Koreans for that epic game against Portugal in the quarter-finals (in which the Magriços recovered from 0-3 after 25 minutes to the final 5-3, after a poker from Eusébio).
In 1970, El Nene Teófilo Cubillas, just 21 years old, spread magic in Mexico with 5 goals, being appointed by Pelé himself as his heir. He would also love it later in Portugal, wearing the FC Porto shirt.
Four years later (1974), we found the Polish Grzegorz Latothe winger with the speed of Speedy Gonzalez who only entered the eleven due to the injury of the team’s main star (Lubanski), months before, and ended the tournament as the world’s top scorer. Lato wasn’t exactly a nobody, he had already been an Olympic champion with Poland in 72 (albeit as a substitute), but in 12 previous international appearances he had only scored three goals. In this World Cup, he ended up with seven, one of which was worth the victory over Brazil which gave Poland third place.
And history has repeated itself, edition after edition, until today, even if today the hyperglobalized world that makes us look through the eyes into the exotic league of Turkmenistan makes any surprise factor on the biggest world stage more difficult. Even the most shrewd coach can still be surprised during the World Cup, as the then Spanish coach Luis Enrique admitted after Spain fell to Morocco four years ago in Qatar. “My god, where did this guy come from? I fell in love with their number 8. I don’t know his name, sorry…”, he confessed, humbly, without sparing praise for the midfielder Azzedine Ounahiwho went from an unknown name to one of the maestros of one of the most surprising campaigns in African history (also beating Portugal on the way to the semi-finals).
That’s why the World Cups fascinate us so much. Because, every four years, there is always something impossible that gets permission to happen. A substitute that could become a legend or a single shot that could span generations. The World Cups belong to the stars, yes. But it’s the unlikely heroes that give them soul. And this year, thanks to FIFA’s inexhaustible greed to increase business numbers, we even have more candidates to write another unexpected chapter in this story. Either way, I’m starting to memorize the names of the Curaçao team.
