June 30th, 2000

Toldo, the hero!

Francesco  Toldo, Italian  goalie, was  surely the  man of the  match. With
three penalties  saved out of six,  he allowed Italy to  stay in the match,
then to defeat Holland "I said that, we were ready to do an 'oranges juice'
and we did it!" Toldo said 'La Gazzetta dello Sport'.
"Do you  know what I think?  The Dutch player could  have shoot for a whole
day and they never could have netted. That was a match marked, I understood
that  when  Dennis Bergkamp  hit  the  post after  few  minutes: I  thought
'Francesco, we're  going to have a Dutch for lunch' and  it was we did" the
Fiorentina goalie added.
"Five penalties  missed out of six, did it  ever happen? The most important
was  surely the  first one.  Frank De  Boer shot  it in  a good way,  but I
guessed the  right side and I  saved it. That charged  myself a lot, I felt
myself invincible, and when  we arrived to the shoot-out, well I was really
calm, I knew I  could save still other penalties. And Dutch forwards knew I
was  in  a  great  form. Well,  penalty  is  also  a psychological  fight!"
Anyway  the  keeper  admits  a  great  merit  go also  to  defenders  "Well
Alessandro Nesta  and Fabio Cannavaro were great!  A kind of monsters, they
were lions!  Obviously with a couple of  defenders like them, everything is
easier for a goalie!".
"But this is not  the happier day in my life, we still must wait the Sunday
match  against France!  We  are tired,  that's true,  but we're  happy, and
happiness could make miracles!" Toldo closed.

Taken from Italian Soccer