Italian striker, Salvatore Schillaci, died from colon cancer on September 18, 2024.
In his memory, we share this excerpt from Philip Micallef's Quote, Unquote (2022), which comprises 100 of Philip's favourite stories after more than three decades as a football journalist.
Micallef introduces Totò as "the man who came from nowhere and took the 1990 World Cup by storm" when he caught up with him in Sydney in February 1995.
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For a whole month during Italia ‘90 striker Salvatore Schillaci held the soccer world in the palm of his hand: whatever he touched turned into gold.
His scoring feats in the World Cup made him the darling of Italy’s passionate tifosi. Schillaci, who hails from Palermo in Sicily, became an instant hero in a classic fairytale of a brave battler who was given the chance of his life and he took it.
Pictures of this cheeky little skinhead with bulging eyes who came out of nowhere to steal the show were beamed across the world. His predator’s instincts helped Italy secure third place in the tournament on home soil. Schillaci, 30, now plays for Japanese club Jubilo Iwata, who are currently in pre-season training in Sydney.
But he is struggling to maintain his high scoring standard in the J.League.
“I’m having a good time in a fascinating country,” he told me yesterday.
“But it’s very hard because the standard is getting higher.”
Schillaci admits he misses Italy and the pressure-cooker atmosphere of Serie A.
“It was a tough decision to leave Inter. It took me months to make up my mind but I had to secure my future,” he said.
“I also needed a new challenge and I wanted to experience foreign football and another country but I feel a deep sense of nostalgia towards Italy and its football.
“I’ve got one year of my contract to go and come September we’ll see what happens.”
Schillaci played for Juventus and Inter for four seasons before seeking greener pastures at the end of his career.
But he is still a big fan of the Turin side. “It looks like this is Juventus’s year,” he said.
“They seem to have got their act together and should go on and win the title.
“I sincerely wish them the best of luck.”
Schillaci’s worldwide profile in 1990 was so high that in Australia they even named a horse after him.
“I was watching the World Cup on SBS and we named our new gelding after Italy’s deadly finisher,” said champion sprinter Schillaci’s part-owner Alan Bell.