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Salvatore ‘Toto’ Schillaci: Best Memories Of Italia ‘90 Legend, Ex Juventus & Inter Milan Ace (Clip From Q & A Pod)
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The sad news that Azzurri Italia 90' hero Salvatore Schillaci, who represented Juventus and Inter Milan during his career, has been hospitalized following a bout with cancer, has travelled the world.
The Italian Football Podcast patron Anthony sends in a question wondering what Nima Tavallaey and Carlo Garganese remember the most from the Italy FIFA World Cup legend.
This is an extended clip from this weeks Q & A episode of The Italian Football Podcast available only to patrons on Patreon.com/TIFP
To send in your questions as well as listen to this & all other full episodes of The Italian Football Podcast (with no ads), go to Patreon.com/TIFP OR Spotify to become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian Football Podcast. Last question, Anthony Sormani says... as We have one more question after that actually, yeah just come here. Yeah, I saw that. Anthony Sormani asks, the sad news, the Toto Skilacis in hospital battling colon cancer, what are your memories of the player from Italian 90?
00:00:22
Speaker
Just incredible memories. um I mean, first of all, let let's just say, like, we're sending all our love and strength to Skalachi and his family. We hope, yeah, we hope that that he can come out of this. and I don't know. I didn't even know that he had cancer. This was the first, the first I learned about it. that he Me too. He's been he's he's he's got colon cancer. He's been battling it but for a few years, I believe. And obviously, I think the news that came out, I saw Nicole Oskira writing about it saying that he he went in for an operation on a tumour. That's all that that that I know. um so he's I saw on social media that his family had posted on his social media that he's in stable condition.
00:01:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. The reports coming out of the media originally was that it was grave, grave, but stable. you know So we don't know more than that. We just hope that that he can yeah hopefully come through and and because yeah it is very sad news. I had no idea.
00:01:28
Speaker
no idea at all and it's it's yeah I mean it's for me personally it's sad because you know that that my first football my first real football in memory is where I really consciously remember everything was watching Italian 90 Italian 90 and every second every game every like yeah That is my favourite world cup. Scolacci and Badjo, I fell in love with them, that that World Cup. like that that They're a big reason why I ended up supporting the Juventus, because those were the two. Because when you were a kid, you always you always kind of go towards individuals, don't you? You you kind of what hero worship. And that World Cup, Scolacci was the
00:02:07
Speaker
the poster boy for Italy, that World Cup. And then Bad Gio was kind of like the magical kind of with a guy goal he's got. But Scolaccio, you know, top scorer, he came out of nowhere. It was such a great story. Like he he was only like a like a one of the lowest squad members. He wasn't even expected to play. He came on as a sub. Neil Neil in the first game against Austria. Neil Neil, Italy struggling to break them through. He scores as a substitute.
00:02:32
Speaker
then and then he scores again against check Czechoslovakia, he breaks into the team as a as a starter, scores against Uruguay to break the deadlock in the last 16, he scores the winner against Ireland in the quarter-final to win and then he scores the opener in the semi-final against Argentina obviously Sadly, it didn't. Italy went, ended up losing that on penalties. And then he scored again in the third and fourth playoff against England to win the the Golden Boot. But it was just everything. He was he was just like such a surprise breakout star and his celebrations like that. I bulge in celebrations, the eyes popping out of out of him, like the pat like kind of like people in Zaghi like celebrations in that World Cup. for lot I love this passion of him. He was just like that the
00:03:21
Speaker
the the penalty box poacher and are amazing memories. of skille I just, I just remember Bruno Pizzo yelling, ski la because I used to watch that game at a friends um mine a friend of mine's house. He had a satellite dish and watched it all right. No, that is, it's like, it's just iconic. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, no I was going to say that he didn't have,
00:03:47
Speaker
his career after that it didn't really amount so much. I mean, that really was, he was kind of like, be unfair to call him a one tournament man. I mean, he's got quite a few goals for Juventus before he then started to kind of decline. He went to Inter, wasn't particularly great. And then he moved over to Japan and and did well in Japan. And and and that was that was that really, we haven't really seen him much in football since his career ended occasionally in the media. But But he was, yeah, I mean, for those about, for that it's Italian 90 tournament, he was such a special, such a special. I'm looking at that score now.
00:04:23
Speaker
za barrezi begomi dgostini ferrara ferri maldii vierovud antichiotti berti dennapopoli taconi janii marocchi bad job cannevalli donnadoni mancini gilachi serena vili ah you
00:04:44
Speaker
I know it's insane, isn't it? I saw that I still haven't got over the fact that we didn't we didn't win that. Still bitter at Zenga to this day for making that mistake, but I was doing it. Well, he made one mistake old tournament. Well, yeah, it cost him, but yeah. He's still got the record didn't he for like most like the longest clean sheet in a World Cup than me. Yeah, he did. Yeah, I don't know how I don't know how we didn't win that. I don't know how we didn't win that tournament. We were we were we were so good. But the other good the other memory funny memory personal memory I have a skill actually is again, back then, um because it's like I said, it was my first proper football memory. First game Italy against Austria. So I'm watching it in my house. I'm only a very, very young kid. And, and
00:05:28
Speaker
I watched the first half, half-time whistle goes and my dad, I'm there with my mum and dad and my dad goes, right then, time to go to bed. And I'm like, and I'm like, yeah, it's a so time for you to go to bed. It's past your bedtime. Cause it probably would have been about nine o'clock, which for, I think it was five, for like a five-year-old kid. That's you know its past this late for a five-year-old kid. But that's all right. Time for you to go to bed. And and i and and I was shocked. Like I was a really shocked kid. And I and i and i said that it's only half time.
00:05:58
Speaker
He goes, no, no, no, the game's finished. This is over. And you know, when you were a kid, you kind of you're a little bit more, you believe more, you're a little bit. I knew, but the game was still forty five minutes. But this the game is only half time. And my dad was like, no, no, no, these games are finished now. This is the it's only 45 minutes. The game's finished. And and and I kind of sort of like accepted what he said. And then I went to bed. I thought the game was over. And then we drew Neil, Neil. And then the next day, the next morning,
00:06:26
Speaker
well When I got up, the news came on and I saw that Italy had won 1-0. And I go to my dad and I go, Italy won 1-0? And he was like, oh, did they? And I was like, yeah. I got i go, yeah, you told me you told me the game was over. It's finished. my god dad's And my dad was like, oh. That is such a legend. But then I was like, oh, oh, I must have made a mistake. Oh, oh, oh. And I remember I started having a go at him. I was like, how could you do that? what did You made me miss the goal. You made me miss, you know. This is comedy, gold. This is comedy, gold. I never i never forget that ah never forget that. That's one of my big memories, that. And my other memory was crying, crying in my mum's bed, watching the, the I wish I'd gone to bed before watching that.
00:07:13
Speaker
the the watch in the Argentina losing losing the penalty shoot out to Argentina. I remember remember crying in my bed, crying in my mom's bedroom. I was in her bed watching the game. I remember crying, crying my eyes out after after after us losing that and having nightmares. Guo Ga Chia like appearing in my nightmares for for quite a few weeks after that. Even now, when I see a picture of Goy Gachea, like, he scares me. Like, I feel like i've I've got like, I still haven't got over it. It's like a trigger. It's like ah ah it's like a mental trigger for me. yeah is is It's like Goy Gachea is like the boogeyman for me. He scares me, you know? yeah Great memories, man. Great memories.
00:08:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Nowadays, it's football hits different, like when you're a kid, it's just so beautiful. It does. It does. We didn't ask the question about the Bella Scogli's version of the Super League. Oh, no, we didn't. I just saw that. I can't remember what it was. It was, I know, because I remember doing, I remember kind of researching writing about this quite a long time ago. So basically, I remember it basically was because when Napoli won the Scudetto,
00:08:29
Speaker
The next season they played in the in the first round, they were joined against Real Madrid. The Real Madrid, the Quinta del Butre Real Madrid, which was a legendary team. They won five La Liga titles in a row. They were probably the second best team in Europe at the time after obviously the great great Milan. um And they were an absolutely fantastic team.
00:08:49
Speaker
And they true against that they got drawn against Napoli in the first round of the the European Cup. And the way the European Cup was there, it was just a two-legged knockout straight away from the first round. So there you go. You've got the two basically the two most marketable, sellable teams in Europe playing against each other in the first round. One of them is going to be out straight away.
00:09:10
Speaker
Napoli ended up going out and Madrid won I think 2-0 at home and then they drew 1-1 in Naples in the second leg and he went out and there was a big kind of outcry like Belisconi started drumming up how like ridiculous it was that the fact that you've got the biggest competition in football and one of the teams can be out after like a couple of games so then he started working on trying to bring about a a a super league and if I remember rightly he was like think was fucking I think it was an 18 team super league and he was pushing for and it would have teams from like a group of, I think it was like three teams, the top three from like the big big four, big five league, so England, Spain, Germany, Italy.
00:09:58
Speaker
and then a few ah maybe a couple of teams from like france holland port school scotland and i can't remember exactly how how it was was going to work but it was it was it was it wasn't i think an eight i remember it being an eighteen team league and it what happened was it was there was a threat for a long time that could be brought about but what happened was is that the champ the Champions League or the European Cup UEFA reacted to that by creating the Champions League basically so the the Champions League that came about in 92 93 we had a group stage and then knockout stages so more games rather than a straight knockouts from the start that came about because
00:10:43
Speaker
partly because of Bellascone trying to push for this, this super league. And if you come back to today, that's really what's happened with the newly formed, the new format of the, of the, the champions league with X with a 36 team league stage. It's because of this threat of the super league a few years ago. They tried to push forward the super league. So now they've reacted by expanding more games, more money. And it was the same then.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's it's been a long time coming. I remember the first time I remember hearing about it was when Beckenbauer and Rumenig is what I spoke about it. Like it's like this has been this isn't new. That was in the 90s. Yeah, that was in the 90s. But Berlusconi predated that. Berlusconi was trying to go from it from the from the late 80s. Yeah.
00:11:31
Speaker
that's true right that's all the time we had for that's all the questions i rather that you sent in for this week uh please do keep ah sending them in uh on facebook twitter instagram but preferably via dm on patreon we will be back um for well tomorrow and we we this so this should come out on wednesday We'll be back Thursday, Friday, Saturday with clips previewing ah first Milan Liverpool, Man City Inter and Atalanta Arsenal all coming out ah three days in a row like this. So there's content for pretty much every six days of the next seven of of seven out of seven days this week for for it Italian football podcast patrons and and listeners. so
00:12:14
Speaker
So make sure to check that out. ah But yeah, and sending your questions, we'll be back next week on Monday for a full review of the weekend. Until, ah yeah, and also check out the Maduka Okoye interview that we did with Urinese and Nigeria goalkeeper Maduka Okoye. It's been picked up by pretty much every big major Italian um outlet. So make sure to check that out. It's out on YouTube and on Patreon, of course, if you want to listen just to the audio. And of course, the Champions League preview of the whole tournament. We went through all Italian teams, squads, chances and everything else that like that came out when you're listening to this yesterday on Tuesday, also on video and audio. So lots of content for you to look ah for you guys to to enjoy this week. But we'll be back um next next time on Monday for a full review episode. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other. Ciao ciao.