Meazza… grabbed his pants and led Italy to the final of the 1938 World Cup

The semi-final match of the 1938 World Cup in France was one of the strangest and funny stories in the history of the World Cup, after the Italian legend, Giuseppe Meazza, scored the decisive winning goal for his country against Brazil from a penalty kick. While he was running towards the ball, the strap of his pants broke and he almost fell, before he remedied the matter and grabbed his pants with one hand and continued to execute the kick into the net, ensuring that the Azzurri would qualify for the final match.

The prestigious Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport covered the details of the incident, which dates back to June 16, 1938, and described it as “the Parisian night and the most unusual penalty kick in history,” when Italy met Brazil at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, in a match witnessed by 35,000 spectators, and the first half ended in a goalless draw, before the 57th minute brought Gino Colazzi’s success in giving Italy the lead goal.

The Italians continued their pressure and had the opportunity in the 60th minute, after the referee of the match awarded a penalty kick, and captain Giuseppe Meazza stepped forward to take it. However, while he was running to kick the ball, the elastic band of his pants broke, and he found himself in an unenviable position. Instead of requesting that the play be stopped to change the pants, he acted intelligently and quickly, and ran towards the ball while holding the pants with one hand, in a shot during which the Brazilian goalkeeper, Walter, burst out laughing, thinking that Meazza was joking or He would not focus, but Meazza surprised everyone by kicking the ball into the net, consolidating the score for the Italian team, in a match in the 87th minute that recorded Brazil reducing the score through a goal by striker Romeo Pellicari, but the remaining time did not help “Samba” to return, so the whistle announced Italy’s qualification for the final.

It is noteworthy that the Italian national team succeeded, for the second time in a row, in lifting the World Cup, by defeating the Hungarian national team in the final match (4-2).