TO Pisa when one pronounces the date June 21, 1987, chills and emotions run strong. A date that is not a simple memory but a signature on the label of a 115-year history.
Cremonese-Pisa 1-2. It could be the title of a film as fictional as that championship decided on the last day. On the eve of the fateful clash the Cremonese was already enjoying the Serie A, even a draw was enough for the Grigiorossi, and a Pisa that had to win otherwise they would have to play everything in the play-offs or settle for another Serie B championship in case of defeat. The Nerazzurri seemed almost cut off after the defeat on 7 June at home to already relegated Cagliari but the 3-0 victory over Lazio, who started from -9, left the doors of the dream open.
Seven teams can still go to Serie A, or to the play-offs, on the last day: Cremonese, 43 points, Genoa, Pescara and Pisa, 42, Cesena and Lecce, 41, and Parma 40. Genoa goes to Taranto, against a team in search of safety points, Pescara hosts Arrigo’s Parma Sacks who is in his last match before going to Milan. Cesena hosts Catania, another team that must save itself, and Lecce visits already relegated Cagliari.
The Zini it is a basin with as many as seven thousand Nerazzurri fans in the away sector. The hosts feel quite safe. Just too much. Indeed, the Cremona speaker will ask the fans not to go onto the pitch to celebrate at the end of the match but to wait for the party in the square which was organized in the evening. It is the move that gives the Nerazzurri, coached by Gigi Simoni, who have been in retreat in nearby Brescia for days, the definitive boost. Tullio referees Lanese of Messina.
At 4.30pm we set off under a hot sun and a temperature made even higher by the stakes. Pisa leaves the initiative to Bruno’s Cremonese Mazzia which after about twenty minutes spent on the attack starts to go haywire. Pisa waits, grows and strikes. At 28′ Cecconi he goes away quickly, enters the area and leaps over Gualco who knocks him down. Clear penalty that Lanese concedes without hesitation. From the diskette Sclosa beats Rampulla in front of the wall of Nerazzurri fans, crazy with joy. Pisa doesn’t stop and in the 42nd minute doubles their lead with a goal as beautiful as it is important, namely Lamberto’s splendid header Piovanelli (in the photo that Piovanelli himself kindly allowed us to use), which exploded in that season, following a cross from the right by Cuoghi.
At the end of the half, referee Lanese also awarded a penalty to Cremonese with Nicoletti shortening the distance and reopening the match. In the second half, Pisa defended themselves but did not give up playing throw-ins, often putting the Grigiorossi in difficulty. Grudina he was ready on several occasions, especially when he blocked a poisonous free kick from Nicoletti ten minutes from the end.
The last seconds for those at Zini are thrilling. But also for those who are glued to the radio and listen to Aldo Orsini, that day he coined the unforgettable “and it’s 2-0”, on Piovanelli’s goal, or radio rai where Ezio Luzzisinger of the B series, comments on what is the watershed match of the day.
Just after a long clearance by Grudina a few minutes after the 90th minute the final whistle arrives. He can start the party. The Nerazzurri one. After just one year, Romeo’s Pisa Ancona residents returns to Serie A. Simoni wins as in 1985 and greets everyone. It will be the last match on the Nerazzurri bench of the great Crevalcore native coach.
The verdicts of that day say Pisa in A together with the Pescara, which defeats Parma 1-0, while Cremonese goes to the play-offs with Cesena and Lecce beating Catania 2-1 and Cagliari 1-0 respectively. Genoa collapses 3-0 in Taranto. Taranto goes to the survival play-offs with Campobasso and Lazio starting from -9. The Apulians and the Capitoline people will be saved. While the Cremonese also collapsed in the three-way play-offs which ultimately rewarded Cesena.
But the Pisans only care about that crazy joy that comes when everyone thought the Nerazzurri were doomed. In Argentina, Rosario Central fans celebrate Aldo Pedro’s goal every year Poy scored in the derby against Newell’s old Boys (decisive to go to the final of the championship then won). Every year Poy repeats the winning header dive complete with television footage and cheering fans. Probably many Nerazzurri hearts at 5.12pm, minute plus minute minus, on 21 June mimicked Piovanelli’s dive following Cuoghi’s cross. Because football is not just a game.
