Rome clash still fresh in Big Jack's mind

ITALIA '90 REVISITED Paddy Agnewbrings protagonists Jack Charlton and Roberto Donadoni together in Rome to recall that famous World Cup quarter-final encounter

'GOODNESS, HE'S a big man, now I can understand why he was hard to beat in defence, you wouldn't get past him easy." The speaker is Italian Roberto Donadoni, coach to the Italy side that will start as one of the favourites for this summer's Euro 2008 tournament. The man he is talking about, however, brings back memories of another, now seemingly distant tournament. Namely, 72-year-old Big Jack Charlton and Italia '90.

We are in the board room of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in central Rome and your correspondent has been instrumental in staging an unlikely "reunion" between Donadoni and Charlton, two of the many protagonists at the Italia '90 World Cup finals. The two men, of course, came head to head when Ireland met host nation Italy in a famous quarter-final tie in the Olympic Stadium, Rome.

Jack, as we all know, was the Irish "Boss". Donadoni, then a key player in Silvio Berlusconi's first all-conquering AC Milan (he was actually Berlusconi's very first buy) was an equally key player in the Azeglio Vicini coached Italy of 1990.

On a warm Saturday night that June, it was Donadoni who clearly had the better of the exchanges. For those not yet born and who have not yet seen the tapes, Donadoni was the villain of the piece. He it was who got onto the ball just outside the Irish area in the 37th minute of the first half, steadied himself and then hit a fierce shot at Packie Bonner's goal. The Donegal man did exceptionally well to stop the shot but his save, unfortunately, fell to the feet of a certain "Toto" Schillaci who banged it home. Buona Notte, Irlanda.

However, Donadoni and Jack do not talk about that mythical night. Donadoni, who speaks a little English after having spent a season with the New York Metro Stars, asks Jack what he does with himself these days. Does he go to many Premier League games? Big Jack smiles broadly.

"If they ask me to do TV work, I go to the odd game but otherwise I prefer to go fishing."

Donadoni is delighted with the answer and says that, if things go wrong in Austria and Switzerland this summer, maybe he will go fishing himself with Jack. Even if Big Jack's Geordie accent repeatedly baffles Donadoni, the two of them chat away easily in the time-honoured manner of ex-pros, members of the same mythical Masonic Lodge.

The FIGC are pleased to see Jack - after all he has not been around these parts since 1990 and the name Charlton still makes serious waves. Donadoni presents Jack with a watch and an Italy pendant to mark the occasion.

Big Jack is genuinely touched. He is in Rome with a Decent Suit Productions TV crew, here to make an Italia '90 Revisited documentary (due out this autumn). He had not expected the football federation to make a fuss and had only come along to meet Donadoni out of politeness.

As we file out of the federation headquarters, Jack exchanges a few words with Antonello Valentini, senior FIGC press officer. Valentini wants to know if he will see Jack at the Euro 2008 finals and gets an answer that greatly amuses him: "Oh no, I won't be there, I have much better things to do, I'll be going fishing."

Next day, Jack goes back to the scene of the crime, the Olympic Stadium itself. This is not a match day and the 80,000 seater Olimpico is deserted, except for a maintenance crew busy replacing a whole section of seats.

Empty or not, the stadium seems awesome when you are out there on the pitch. What is more, just being there revives Jack's memories. These days, when you ask Jack about a specific match, he often cannot remember a thing. There have been so many games, he says.

As he waits for the TV crew to shoot, Jack asks me which goal did Ireland defend in the first half. He looks at the Curva Nord, the end where the Lazio fans gather, and then he begins to remember. "Yeah, yeah, that is the end where Schillaci scored, isn'it? I remember we had the ball on the left side of their penalty area, John Aldridge had it but our attack broke down . . . One of their guys (De Napoli) picked it up and he came right out of defence and got it to Donadoni. He hit a hell of a shot that Packie did well to save but then that other lad (Schillaci) snapped it up."

Jack may not remember the names but he remembers the moment. He recalls the build-up to that game, too, recalls thinking to himself: "We're playing the host country in the quarter-finals of the World Cup so the referee isn't going to give us much."

After he had gone through all the post-match interviews and had been up and down to the TV and press rooms after the match, Jack recalls walking down the corridor back to the Irish dressingroom. It had been a hot night and, by this stage, Jack was thirsty. As he walked along, he noticed a drinks cabinet in one of the rooms. Without stopping to think, he walked into the room to pull out a bottle of water.

Unknown to Jack, this was actually the referee's room and there he was, the man himself, referee Silva Valente of Portugal. Jack apologised for barging in and then asked for a bottle of water. As he helped himself to the drink, he could not help but wonder who were the officials sitting on the bench with him. Were they Italians? With a big grin, Jack recalls: "I just wonder what they were talking

about . . . ."

In truth, an Italian team stuffed with legendary names such as Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Toto Schillaci, Roberto Baggio et al did not need any help from the referee. On paper, and in the end on the pitch, they were the better team. However . . .

Indeed, Jack recalls how the referee kept giving Italy free kicks in Ireland's half of the field but he gave very few to Ireland in the Italian half. Jack had really wanted a few decent free kicks because he fancied his front men, especially Niall Quinn, in the air against the Italian defence.

Ironically, Donadoni had made the same point the day before when he recalled the Italy v Ireland game: "We knew that would be a difficult game because Ireland were a very physical side, perhaps one of the physically strongest sides at Italia '90. We were expecting them to play it very tight, give us very little space in which to play . . .

"We knew that with the type of strikers Ireland had, especially Quinn, because I remember he was a big lad, we knew that they would give us a lot of difficulty with the high ball into our area. We knew that one thing we had to do was make sure Ireland didn't get the ball out wide to the flanks and get their crosses in because we knew they were stronger in the air than us."

If Jack remembers the goal, so too does Donadoni: "As a player I always hit the ball very cleanly and in some ways this was not always an advantage, sometimes if you scuff it, it's harder for the goalkeeper to deal with. That's what happened this time, I hit it really well but the goalkeeper (Bonner) managed to stop it. However, fortunately for us, Schillaci was quicker than everybody else to the rebound and he knocked it in."

For Italians, one very pronounced aspect of Italia '90 was the cheerful, good-natured behaviour of the Irish fans. In the wake of the 1985 Heysel disaster, Italians expected the worst from fans coming from this part of Northern Europe. So, the Irish fans, who drank but did not fight, who partied into the early hours but did not trash their hotel rooms, came as a very pleasant surprise.

Even Donadoni remembers the fans: "I had some great experiences with Irish fans, I always found them very sporting and not only at Italia '90. I'll never forget the Giants Stadium in New York at the USA World Cup (1994). We were expecting plenty of support but it seemed to me that three-quarters of the stadium was decked out in green. I always had a very good impression of the Irish fans."

Italia '90, too, will always be remembered as the occasion when the Irish football team was received in a papal audience by Pope John Paul II. Thanks to the good efforts of Cardinal Seán Brady, then rector of the Irish College in Rome, Jack and the squad got to meet briefly with the Pope during his Wednesday public audience in the Paul VIth hall.

Popes tend to have better things to do than watch football matches so the late John Paul II famously got it wrong when he asked Jack if his side had just beaten Spain: "No, Holy Father, we beat Romania (in a penalty shootout)."

Thanks to the efforts of Monsignor Liam Bergin, today's rector of the Irish College, Jack gets to walk down this particular memory lane again. Except, of course, that this time the Pope is Benedict XVI and the audience is out in the open in St Peter's Square.

If John Paul II was a bit uninformed about football, Benedict is even worse. Jack is in prime position in the front row for the audience and gets to greet Pope Benedict after the audience. The Pope looks at him, clearly with no idea who Jack might be. However, the bauld Jack himself saves the day: "My name is Jack Charlton. I used to be a professional footballer and I played football many times in Germany." At which point Benedict's face lights up and he offers his blessing to Jack.

If Benedict had had a full resume of Jack's career to consider, it would be one that would have greatly pleased him. The idea of an English national hero and 1966 World Cup winner who ends up as a coach/folk hero to an "auld enemy" would meet with his approval. It is a point not lost on Donadoni who had this to say about Big Jack: "He's an important symbol for football. When a player like him, who was key to one nation, ends up as coach for a country with which, for a thousand reasons, his own country once had problems, then he has written an important page of history. I think that it says a lot not just about how good a professional he was but about his humanity too."

"He's an important symbol for football. When a player like him, who was key to one nation, ends up as coach for a country with which, for a thousand reasons, his own country once had problems, then he has written an important page of history