Roger Milla: How Italia 90 changed the way the world saw African football
(CNN)It
was arguably the most powerful emblem of the tournament that changed
the way the world saw African football — a Cameroon striker’s joyous
dance at a corner flag.
Nobody had really expected all that much of Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Not many
casual observers knew that much about 38-year-old Roger Milla — the
football veteran who, after each of his four tournament goals, shimmied
his way into the spotlight.
Exactly a
quarter of a century ago today Milla was the man on the spot in his
side’s last-16 clash with Colombia, scoring twice as a second-half
substitute to seal a 2-1 win and continue the Indomitable Lions’
heroics.
After each
strike he headed straight for the corner flag, gyrating in front of it
in a sort of Makossa dance before being engulfed by euphoric colleagues.
He found
that his celebration, almost more than his goals, had caught people’s
imaginations — and that it also had a wider and more dramatic effect.
“It remains
in our collective memory — it actually changed the perception the world
had of African football,” Paulo Teixeira, who was working as a
photographer at the tournament, told CNN.
“Milla
dancing in front of the corner flag became a hit. It was an image of
joy, of positive energy, communication through body language.
“Those goals put Cameroon, and ultimately African football, on the world map.”
Now an
agent, Teixeira was born in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and
has extensively traveled throughout Africa in his work, giving him an
in-depth knowledge of the continent’s football development.
The
63-year-old believes the exploits of Milla and friends also began to
alter the way in which people thought about footballers’ diets and
preparations.
“His, and
Cameroon’s, performance made scouts and clubs look differently at
African players,” he says. “It was proof that they could physically go
beyond all expectations, almost defying science in terms of resistance.
“People
started to look at the way African players ate — no bread, no desserts,
no booze, no coffee, no smoking. All was natural — vegetables, rice,
white meat.”
But it
turned out he had admirers in high places and was persuaded to
reconsider by Cameroon president Paul Biya, who then insisted on his
inclusion in the World Cup squad.
The Indomitable Lions faced tournament holders Argentina — Diego Maradona and all — in their opening match.
Milla, the
oldest outfield player at the event (only England goalkeeper Peter
Shilton was older), played a late cameo role in the occasionally brutal
1-0 win that got Italia 90 off to a sensational start.
But there was plenty more to come from Milla.
Coach
Valeri Nepomniachi opted to bring him on earlier in the next group game
against Romania, knowing a win would seal his team’s place in the
knockout stages.
With 76
minutes of an often tense match gone, Milla won a bouncing ball on the
edge of the area, ran on and opened the scoring some 15 minutes after
entering the fray. An iconic celebration was born.
Four years
later, he would augment his achievements by becoming the oldest-ever
World Cup player and goalscorer against Russia in the United States.
But it is
Italia 90 with which he — like the host nation’s Toto Schillaci and
England’s Paul Gascoigne — will always be most strongly associated.
“It might
not have changed his career in financial terms,” Teixeira says. “After
all, he was already way past normal football age.
“But he became an icon — and that is something that money cannot buy.”
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