Date: August 6th, 98
Goal machine Gabriel Batistuta`s second hat-trick in successive finals in Argentina`s 5-0 thrashing of Jamaica has propelled him into an elite club of World Cup legends.
The 29-year-old Fiorentina striker, who ruled out a goal feast in comments leading up to the match, scored the32nd hat-trick in the history of the finals. Batistuta, who has said he will take a month off after France 98 to consider his many transfer possibilities, also scored three goals in Argentina`s 5-0 thrashing of Greece in USA 94. In fact, statisticians would lap up the figures thrown up by this phenomenal striker whom coach Daniel Passarella left out for nearly a year saying he didn`t fit into their system. Passarella has denied there was a rift and said his omission was for tactical reasons.
Batistuta has now scored 47 goals in 61 matches for his country. He was also topscorer in Italy in 1995 with 26 goals with Fiorentina, where he is said to be unsettled because the club never win as many big prizes like more illustrious rivals such as Inter Milan and Juventus. In the 1995/96 season, Fiorentina did lift the Italian Cup however, with Batistuta scoring eight goals in as many matches, including two of his side`s three goals in a final over two-legs with Atalanta. And his life in Florence is comfortable from a financial standpoint. He earns about 3.3 million dollars a year and his wages are only second to Brazilian star Ronaldo who earns in the region of 4.7 million dollars at Inter Milan.
Batistuta is in an elite club of hat-trick heroes, including England`s Geoff Hurst, who hit three in the 1966 final, Germany`s Gerd Muller, who has the World Cup record of 14 goals in total, and Juste Fontaine, who fired home 13 goals in Sweden in 1958. Batistuta also proved his thirst for goals with a hat-trick against Bosnia in Argentina on May 15 on the build-up to this event. Batistuta`s exploits meant he has gone some way to making up for his disappointment in the last finals in the United States. Batistuta desperately wanted to be topscorer but their second round loss to Romania in one of the most exciting match of those finals scuppered his plans and Bulgaria`s Hristo Stoichkov and Russia`s Oleg Salenko shared that honour with six a piece.
Batistuta`s performance against Jamaica was all the more remarkable because he only scored his first goal with 17 minutes to go. And there was still seven minutes left following his penalty for his third and Argentina`s fifth. "The goals will help me in my ambition to be the tournament`s leading scorer and that is the reason I came here," said Batistuta, whose goals earned the SOS Children`s Village charity 25,000 dollars. Batistuta and Ariel Ortega, who scored twice before the break, helped silence Argentina critics who slammed them after only beating Japan 1-0. "It wasn`t easy but after the first goal they lost concentration totally and we found it very easy to run through their defence," said Batistuta, the leading tournament scorer with four. Batistuta, who finished the Japan game with his right ankle strapped, knew they needed a convincing performance against Jamaica if they were to live up to their billing as the tournament favourites.
Batigol, as he is known because of his goalscoring feats, is thinking of following in the footsteps of Ossie Ardiles and Mario Kempes, the stars of Argentina`s 1978 World Cup side, by moving to English football. Manchester United`s Alex Ferguson is interested, but so are a host of other clubs outside England, including, amongst others Parma, AS Roma and Real Madrid. But his price tag must have gone up after this performance in the shop window of football with surely even more phone calls pouring into his agent. Batistuta, who started out with Newell`s Old Boys, then joined River Plate and Boca Juniors before moving to Florence in 1991, is now at possibly the peak of his career. "I want to make a name for myself at this tournament. I`m determined to do that," he said. In many people`s minds, he already has.
Source: The Beautiful Game - World Of Soccer
World Cup '98 Report