RIP Toto

[Futbolmetrix]

They were indeed magical nights:

[Lléo]

Post by Futbolmetrix
http://youtu.be/fTfaiwD7Svk

They were indeed. The first World Cup I fully watched.

Interestingly, had he scored against the US he would have joined
Jairzinho as the only players to have scored in every game of a given
WC. Ronaldo in 2002 and Messi in 2022 were also one game short of
accomplishing this, so I guess he's in good company.

I see in his Italian-language Wikipedia page that his first game for the
Azzurra was two months before Italy's World Cup opener (a 1-0 win over
Switzerland in Basel). Indeed, 11 of his 16 games for Italy were either
in that World Cup or in the Euro'92 qualifiers. And 6 of his 7 goals
were in that WC too (plus one vs Norway in an EC qualifier).

All this is to ask: how did he suddenly appear in the picture for the
Italian NT's WC 1990 squad? Where did that come from? He seems to have
scored a lot of goals for Juventus in the previous season, so I guess
therein lies my answer. But anyway, it was rather sudden change of
fortunes: by June 1989 he was Serie B top goalscorer for a midtable side
(8th place with Messina). Quite a ride from that all the way to a World
Cup semifinal against Maradona et al, being the tournament's top
goalscorer. And, almost as quickly, he dropped out of the national team
radar.

But the memories stay on. RIP Toto.


Best regards,

Lléo

[Futbolmetrix]

Post by Lléo
All this is to ask: how did he suddenly appear in the picture for the
Italian NT's WC 1990 squad? Where did that come from? He seems to have
scored a lot of goals for Juventus in the previous season, so I guess
therein lies my answer. But anyway, it was rather sudden change of
fortunes: by June 1989 he was Serie B top goalscorer for a midtable side
(8th place with Messina). Quite a ride from that all the way to a World
Cup semifinal against Maradona et al, being the tournament's top
goalscorer. And, almost as quickly, he dropped out of the national team
radar.

As you say, 15 goals in Serie A with Juve (ahead of Voller, Careca,
Vialli, Serena, Klinsmann, Gullit and others) open a lot of doors. He
was a bit of a late bloomerL: he was nowhere near the radar screen of
the top teams or Italy's youth NTs, and even his breakout season at
Messina in Serie B came when he was already 24.

I think Juve took a bit of a gamble on him in the summer of 1989, in
part because they had no choice. They had been taken off-guard by
Berlusconi's massive investments -- shockingly, the best prospects of
Atalanta, Como and the like (Donadoni, Borgonovo, Simone, etc.) ended up
preferring Milan's $$$ to Juve's old-school prestige. I think they also
hoped that Schillaci would emulate the successes of other Sicilian
players who ended up starring for Juve (Furino, Causio, Cuccureddu and
especially Anastasi, who actually had some similarities to Schillaci in
terms of playing style).

Anyway, I think there are good chances that I would have called him up
in Fantasy Scout at the time. He wouldn't have been a great FS asset in
the end, but the banter...

I wonder if his meteoric rise also contributed to his quick downfall.
Maybe he never really adjusted to the sudden notoriety of being the
Magical Nights hero.

[Werner Pichler]

Post by Futbolmetrix

Post by Lléo
All this is to ask: how did he suddenly appear in the picture for the
Italian NT's WC 1990 squad? Where did that come from? He seems to have
scored a lot of goals for Juventus in the previous season, so I guess
therein lies my answer. But anyway, it was rather sudden change of
fortunes: by June 1989 he was Serie B top goalscorer for a midtable side
(8th place with Messina). Quite a ride from that all the way to a World
Cup semifinal against Maradona et al, being the tournament's top
goalscorer. And, almost as quickly, he dropped out of the national team
radar.

As you say, 15 goals in Serie A with Juve (ahead of Voller, Careca,
Vialli, Serena, Klinsmann, Gullit and others) open a lot of doors. He
was a bit of a late bloomerL: he was nowhere near the radar screen of
the top teams or Italy's youth NTs, and even his breakout season at
Messina in Serie B came when he was already 24.
I think Juve took a bit of a gamble on him in the summer of 1989, in
part because they had no choice. They had been taken off-guard by
Berlusconi's massive investments -- shockingly, the best prospects of
Atalanta, Como and the like (Donadoni, Borgonovo, Simone, etc.) ended up
preferring Milan's $$$ to Juve's old-school prestige. I think they also
hoped that Schillaci would emulate the successes of other Sicilian
players who ended up starring for Juve (Furino, Causio, Cuccureddu

Oy, I suppose there's a whole island south of Corsica that would take
exception to that!

Ciao,
Werner

Post by Futbolmetrix
and especially Anastasi, who actually had some similarities to Schillaci in
terms of playing style).
Anyway, I think there are good chances that I would have called him up
in Fantasy Scout at the time. He wouldn't have been a great FS asset in
the end, but the banter...
I wonder if his meteoric rise also contributed to his quick downfall.
Maybe he never really adjusted to the sudden notoriety of being the
Magical Nights hero.

[Futbolmetrix]

Post by Werner Pichler

Post by Futbolmetrix
I think they also
hoped that Schillaci would emulate the successes of other Sicilian
players who ended up starring for Juve (Furino, Causio, Cuccureddu

Oy, I suppose there's a whole island south of Corsica that would take
exception to that!

Ugh...I was going back and forth between Sicilian and Southern (Causio
too is from Puglia, not Sicily).

By the way, Juve's "Southern Strategy" in the 1970s may have played a
role in turning many of the Southern migrants coming to work for FIAT
into Juve fans. The whole "real Torinesi are Torino fans" is a) probably
not true b) smells quite a bit snobbery, if not downright anti-Southern
prejudice...