Electric Meazza’s elastic mishap

• Italy defeated Brazil in the semi-finals of the 1938 FIFA World Cup

• Decisive goal was scored by the legendary Giuseppe Meazza

• Forward had to overcome unusual obstacles to convert his second half penalty

Italy had to travel to the final of the 1938 World Cup by train. The only plane that could have taken them from Marseille to Paris had already been fully booked by Brazil before a ball had been kicked in the semi-final between the two nations at the Stade Velodrome.

The Italian Football Federation president, Giorgio Vaccaro, dispatched Azzurri coach Vittorio Pozzo to the French coastal town of La Ciotat a few days prior to the match to negotiate with the Seleção delegation and request seats in the event of a Brazil defeat, but there was no room for compromise. “Sorry, but we’ll be going to Paris,” said Carlos Volante, a former Argentina international who had played in Italy and carved out a new niche as an interpreter for the Brazilians. “Already decided?” replied Pozzo. “Already decided.”

The Italian tactician used that exchange to fire up his troops. His side had laboured past Norway after extra time in the last 16 before responding strongly against France in the quarter-finals, inspired by wide players Gino Colaussi and Amedeo Biavati, with the latter famed for perfecting the step-over.

Nothing is ever written in stone in football, as the last-four bout against Brazil fittingly proved once again. The Seleção had come through two draining encounters with Czechoslovakia and, whether owing to overconfidence or because his star striker was fatigued, coach Adhemar Pimenta omitted Leonidas – who would finish the tournament as top scorer with seven goals – from his line-up. The upshot was a largely toothless display from the Brazilians.

“For me, the Brazil match was the easiest of the whole World Cup,” Giuseppe Meazza later stated in an interview. That sense of ease likely stemmed from Pozzo’s tactical blueprint. He instructed his wingers to track back and assist defensively before breaking forward at speed. “The Brazilians have no tactical discipline,” Gianpiero Combi, the goalkeeper from Italy’s 1934 triumph who had become Pozzo’s scout, reported after analysing Brazil’s displays against Czechoslovakia. “Let them tire themselves out and we’ll strike on the counter.” This precursor of catenaccio and counter-attacking football worked to a tee.

Italy netted twice in the second half after Brazil had expended their energy. The victory was sealed by the legendary Meazza, who stepped up to take a penalty won by the outstanding Silvio Piola after drawing a foul from Domingos da Guia. In front of some 35,000 spectators in Marseille, the 28-year-old began his run-up. Just as he approached the ball, however, the elastic in his shorts dramatically snapped.

Meazza hesitated, unsure whether to stop or risk worldwide embarrassment with his underwear on show. His quick thinking ultimately prevailed. “I had to take the penalty holding up my shorts,” he later recalled. Grasping them with his right hand, he still struck the ball sweetly and converted with aplomb. Some reports from the time claimed his team-mates briefly saw the garment slip, revealing what was below, though the full truth remains somewhere between history and legend.

What is certain is that Meazza’s shorts featured in popular humour in those years. In 1939, singer Gilberto Mazzi served up a playful sporting adaptation of Giacomo Leopardi’s poem Il sabato del villaggio, including the following lines: “The young girl returns to the countryside reading La Gazzetta dello Sport and, like every girl, she goes mad for Meazza, who scores to the rhythm of a foxtrot.”

Italy went on to overcome Hungary in the final. When Meazza returned to Milan as a world champion, 20,000 people gleefully awaited him at the central station. He later described that experience as the instant in which he realised that he had truly become famous.