2026 FIFA World Cup Countdown: Baggio's Not So Magical Kicks

63 Days to Go: The Man Who Died Standing

Anyone born from the late 90s to the mid-2000s, it’s almost a guarantee that at some point during your formative years, you will have played the desktop game Baggio’s Magical Kicks, a game where you were placed on a football pitch and were tasked with scoring free kicks from various angles with a light-blue digital player.

While some would have simply taken it at face value as a low-budget, fake-name football game, it was actually inspired by Roberto Baggio, one of the best players to kick a ball during the 80s and 90s.

A player of unbelievable flair, a right foot that wouldn’t look out of place in a Harry Potter film, and a passing range seen once in a generation, he remains to this day arguably Italy’s greatest export, with his composed demeanour, easy talent and fearless audacity – traits that have spanned the decades.

Roberto Baggio with his Ballon d'Or pic.twitter.com/hps87zfnrr

— Former Footballers (@FinishedPlayers) January 9, 2026

So it is remarkable that what the brilliant attacking midfielder is best remembered for is a moment where all three of those traits deserted him. That’s what the World Cup does, though – it amplifies moments, big or small, and ensures they are remembered for eternity.

Best In The World

There were no two ways about it – heading into the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Roberto Baggio was the certified best player in the world, having won the Ballon d’Or the previous year despite not lifting a team trophy with Juventus.

Scoring 30 times in 43 games and doubtless notching a shedload of assists to go along with them (assists weren’t recorded in those days), the fact that a player could win the Ballon d’Or while not necessarily achieving success at club level was highly unusual and a feat that has rarely been repeated since.

Roberto Baggio was the definition of a baller pic.twitter.com/yBrl2g7QzF

— Former Footballers (@FinishedPlayers) March 25, 2026

He had also netted five times during Italy’s World Cup qualifiers and played a huge role in the Azzurri actually reaching the tournament. Knocked out in the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup on home soil four years previously, this was an Italy side determined to avenge that result, and no one took them lightly with the best player in the world on their side.

Thanks to Baggio’s presence, the Italians were considered amongst the favourites alongside Brazil and Germany, and with a squad that also contained the likes of a young Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi and Chelsea icon Gianfranco Zola, it was easy to see why.

Lucky Escape

Placed in a group with Mexico, Norway and the Republic of Ireland, it was a natural assumption that the Italians would emerge from the group as winners, with their talent pool running so much deeper than any of their adversaries.

However, their opening group game against the Republic of Ireland dispelled any complacency the Italians were feeling – despite dominating the game, an 11th minute Ray Houghton strike was enough to down the Azzurri, who, at the end of gameweek one, sat joint bottom of the group alongside Mexico.

A rare glimpse of Roberto Baggio popping out of Paul McGrath's pocket at the now demolished Giants Stadium...#legend #irishfootball #ireland pic.twitter.com/oMI46UhwX3

— Lansdowne Road ☘️🇮🇪⚽ (@LansdowneRD_IE) March 15, 2023

It was a true shock result – the Irish had never achieved anything of note on the international stage before, and a win over the three-time champions of the world was a cause for national celebration, while on Italian shores, the scene was more akin to that of a national mourning.

The Italians did bounce back in their second game against Norway, with a goal from the unrelated Dino Baggio enough to secure a 1-0 win, but it was still far from convincing. Italy had been expected to walk all over the other teams in the group, not tiptoe their way past.

However, squeaky bum time only truly began upon the full-time whistle in their final group game with Mexico – ending in a 1-1 draw, with Daniele Massoro this time netting the Italians’ only goal, every side in the group somehow ended up on four points each, winning, drawing and losing one game apiece.

Moreover, all of them finished on a goal difference of zero, meaning more niche tiebreakers needed to be implemented. Mexico topped the group thanks to goals scored, and Ireland finished second thanks to their win over Italy, while the Azzurri just pipped Norway to third place, having scored one more goal than the Scandinavians.

Thankfully for the boys in blue, the World Cup used a system where the four best third-placed teams advanced to the knockout rounds. By a huge stroke of luck, Italy were the last third-place team to scrape into the knockouts, with Russia and South Korea only just finishing below them.

This had to serve as a wake-up call, or else Italy were heading for humiliation.

Silencing the Doubters

Italy had flattered to deceive and had made it through to the knockouts more down to luck and chance than anything else, and the reigning best player in the world had done precisely nothing to back up his credentials. If Italy and Baggio didn’t start to use their full repertoire of talent soon, it would be a very disappointing next four years.

Nigeria awaited them in the last 16, and with just two minutes left of the game, it seemed that this prediction was about to come true; the Super Eagles led 1-0 thanks to a first-half Emmanual Amunike strike, and with the full-time whistle on the horizon, Italy looked out of ideas.

#OnThisDay @ #USA94

Italy beat Nigeria 2-1 in an eventful match

With Italy trailing 1-0, Zola got sent off & Maldini escaped a red card with Yekini clean through

Roberto Baggio rescued Italy with a late equaliser & a penalty in extra time
pic.twitter.com/Aj7nFf2Xzw

— 80s&90sFootball ⚽ (@80s90sfootball) July 5, 2025

However, just when his country needed him the most, Baggio announced himself, rolling home a cutback in the 88th minute to equalise, sending the game into extra time. After what amounted to almost four incredibly quiet games, Baggio turned himself into a one-man army, and in extra time, he netted again.

This time it was from the penalty spot, a penalty which he earned with a wonderful lobbed pass through to a teammate, resulting in an illegal takedown. Once again, Italy had dodged a bullet and made it through to the quarter-finals, a round which, in truth, they had no right to be competing in.

Next was Spain and, for once, Italy actually managed to take the lead first, with Dino Baggio’s 25 minute strike granting the Azzurri the lead at half time. However, in classic Italian fashion, they let the lead slip, with Jose Caminero equalising 13 minutes after the break, and once again, the responsibility of qualifying for the semi-finals once again fell on Roberto Baggio’s shoulders.

He rose to the occasion spectacularly – once again, in the 88th minute, he was played through in an electric counter-attack and slotted home from a tight angle after rounding the Spanish keeper, once again sending the Italians into raptures.

In the last four, underdogs Bulgaria awaited, having already knocked out Mexico and shocking Germany in the quarter-finals. Once again, though, Roberto Baggio was up to the task, netting his fourth and fifth goals of the knockout stage to seal yet another 2-1 win and secure their unlikely place in the World Cup final, where they would be pitched against serial winners Brazil.

It had taken a while to get going, but Italy had defied the odds and had a shot at the iconic Jules Rimet trophy, an opportunity to become the nation with the most World Cup wins.

After 120 minutes of breathless, dramatic, tension-filled, ultimately goalless football, their World Cup dreams were to be decided from 12 yards out in a penalty shootout, enough to make the knees of even the most hardened campaigners quake.

Both sides had missed opportunities to win in normal time, with Baggio spurring at least two, but none of that mattered now. All anyone was focused on was the eternally fascinating battle between penalty taker and goalkeeper.

Franco Baresi missed Italy’s first penalty, but his blushes were spared by goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca, who dived to his right to deny Marcio Santos, before all of Demetrio Albertini, Romario, Alberico Evani and Branco found the net.

It was 2-2 after three penalties each, but Daniele Massaro made the critical error, with his poor penalty being easily parried by Taffarel. His miss was then compounded by the fact that Dunga converted his, putting Brazil on the brink of their fourth World Cup glory – all they needed was a save, and if that failed, to score their fifth penalty.

Baggio stepped up, and Italian fans were confident – misses from the spot were few and far between from the great man, who was typically one to thrive in high-pressure scenarios. Many were more worried about Brazil's next penalty.

🌎🏆 2026 FIFA World Cup Countdown

Day 37/100: Roberto Baggio - The Man Who Died Standing

Eight minutes – that was how long Roberto Baggio stood on the penalty spot after missing his spot-kick in the 1994 World Cup final, handing Brazil the trophy in the process.

The standout… pic.twitter.com/JFmkr4Ht2Y

— Football Park (@FP_CentreCircle) April 10, 2026

With a stony face, Baggio stepped up and belted the ball over the top left-hand corner and into the stands, forcing the world into what seemed like a complete standstill.

Brazil wheeled away in wild celebration; the noise inside the Rose Bowl was deafening, and amongst it all, Roberto Baggio just stood there for all of eight minutes, looking down at the floor in complete and utter despair. It was an image that would come to define him later on in his career, and he would become known as “the man who died standing”.

Despite all he had done in the years leading up to the tournament and the immense effort and contribution he had provided to ensure Italy had a shot at the trophy, few remember ponytailed number 10 for that – the penalty miss was clearly far more effective and far more evocative as a way of defining the player.

He would not be the same player again. Save for one superb goalscoring season at Bologna four years later, Baggio’s goal contributions took a significant dip, and aside from that 1997/98 campaign, he would not exceed more than 12 goals a season for the remainder of his career.

Though cruel, it was a fitting last kick to close out the tournament – Diana Ross famously missed a penalty in her opening ceremony performance, and it was a moment that would come to represent an eerie foreshadowing of the events of the final.

However, despite the miss, Baggio is still a hero to the people of Italy – dragging them to the final almost single-handedly, he was about the only player on the pitch that fans would accept a missed penalty from, and though it cost them the World Cup, the midfielder's knockout stage form would have gone down as some of the best ever had Italy lifted the trophy.

🚨🎙️| Roberto Baggio to Sky in 2022: “In that moment with one shot I lost the World Cup, my second Ballon d’Or and being the best player in the world…three things with one shot.”

‘The man who died standing’ pic.twitter.com/DuXs1nuOTQ

— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) November 5, 2023

The enduring image will always be the forlorn Baggio standing with his tumultuous thoughts – it was a sight that exemplified the extremes in emotion that football can create, and with the World Cup at stake, there are very few who can claim to understand what he was feeling in that moment.