Thirty-six years ago, a group of Italians beat Cuba in a packed Maracanãzinho and won the country’s first world title. Coached by Julio Velasco, they became known as the “Generation of Phenomena.”
Before the autumn of 1990, Italian volleyball’s best moment was a near miss. In 1978 the Azzurri reached the World Championship final in Rome and took silver. Bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics followed, then the 1989 European title in Stockholm. Even so, the top step of the world still belonged to someone else.
Italy arrived in Brazil as European champions. That summer they had also won the first FIVB World League and the Goodwill Games in Seattle. Their coach was Julio Velasco, an Argentine from La Plata. He had built a winning club side at Panini Modena, and he kept telling his players to drop what he called “the culture of alibis.”
The tournament started badly. In the first group stage in Brasília, Cuba beat Italy 3–0. As runners-up, Italy had to take the longer road through an extra play-off round. They beat Czechoslovakia 3–0, then moved to Rio de Janeiro, where they swept Argentina 3–0 in the quarterfinals. Velasco had once worked with the Argentine national team as an assistant coach.
The semifinal was against the hosts in the Maracanãzinho, the arena beside the famous football stadium. Brazil took the first set, Italy won the next two, and the hosts levelled at 2–2 to force a deciding fifth set. At 14–13 and match point, Italy’s setter Paolo Tofoli surprised everyone by setting captain Andrea Lucchetta in the middle. Lucchetta hit it down, Italy took the set 15–13, and Brazil was out.
The final on Sunday 28 October was a rematch with Cuba. Cuba had beaten Italy in the group stage and had just knocked out the Soviet Union in the other semifinal. Their star was the hitter Joel Despaigne, “El Diablo.” The match became a duel between him and Italy’s Andrea Zorzi, billed in the press of the day as the two hardest hitters on the planet.
Cuba took the first set 15–12. Italy answered with 15–11 and 15–6. The fourth stayed tight to the very end, until Lorenzo Bernardi spiked the final point to close it 16–14. Italy were world champions, 3–1, and Andrea Gardini climbed the first referee’s stand to celebrate. Italy’s side that evening started with Tofoli, Zorzi, Bernardi, Luca Cantagalli, Lucchetta and Gardini.
The squad was Andrea Anastasi, Lorenzo Bernardi, Marco Bracci, Luca Cantagalli, Ferdinando De Giorgi, Andrea Gardini, Andrea Giani, Andrea Lucchetta, Marco Martinelli, Roberto Masciarelli, Paolo Tofoli and Andrea Zorzi. That’s five Andreas on one roster. Lucchetta, the captain with the unmistakable hairstyle, was named the tournament’s MVP.
Italy won again in Athens in 1994 and in Tokyo in 1998. No men’s team had ever won three world titles in a row before. In 2001 the FIVB named the Italian side of 1990–98 its men’s Team of the Century. Olympic gold always escaped that generation, but the run began on 28 October 1990 in Rio.
