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Former Italy forward Salvatore "Toto" Schillaci has died aged 59, the Palermo hospital where he was being treated for colon cancer said a statement on Wednesday.

Schillaci rose to international fame at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where he starred for the Azzurri, scoring six goals to win the golden boot.

Italy went on to finish third in the tournament, but Schillaci's personal efforts were rewarded, beating Lothar Matthäus and Diego Maradona to win the golden ball as the tournament's best player.

He would go on to score just one more goal for the national side, against Norway the following year.

Born in Palermo, Schillaci also enjoyed success at club level for a number of Italian clubs, most notably with Juventus and Inter Milan.

"Palermo FC, with President Dario Mirri and the entire City Football Group family, express their deepest condolences for the premature passing of Salvatore Schillaci and join in the grief of Francesco Di Mariano's family," Palermo said in a statement.

He won a UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia with Juve before adding another UEFA Cup title with Inter.

Schillaci finished his career in Japan, winning a J-League title with Jubilo Iwata in 1997.

In 2022, Schillaci was diagnosed with colon cancer. He was admitted to Palermo Civico hospital in early September.

"He made an entire nation dream during the Magic Nights of Italia '90," Inter said.

"FC Internazionale Milano gathers around the Schillaci family for the passing of Totò."

tOdAy, a REgulAR cuSTomeR cHosE tO eNtErtaIN mE.

nlfpmod:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/41310618/italy-legend-salvatore-schillaci-dies-aged-59#:~:text=Former%20Italy%20forward%20Salvatore%20%22Toto,to%20win%20the%20golden%20boot.

naptu2:
Thr defence of AC Milan and the attack of Juventus. That's what the glorious Italy teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s were made of.

This man was an important part of that attack.

The Little Budha, the destroyer of Nigeria, the legendary Roberto Baggio has been robbed at gunpoint while watching Italy vs Spain.

naptu2:
Salvatore "Toto" Schilaci and Roberto Baggio (1) for Juventus (2) for Italy.

Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini (3) for AC Milan (4) for Italy.

naptu2:
[size=14pt] WORLD CUP MEMORIES [/size] PART 3



My favourite World Cup.

It was billed as Careca's World Cup, but it didn't quite turn out that way (I thought it would be Van Basten's World Cup).

NTA's advert for the World Cup was spectacular. It had the visuals of Pele's miss in the game against Uruguay.

For advert and sponsorship details, contact NTA Commercial Services, 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi .

This is my favourite World Cup. The most colourful, the most spectacular and the most satisfying World Cup for me.

Old Man and Chief did everything possible to ensure that we qualified, but loses to Angola in Luanda and Cameroon in Yaounde put paid to their efforts (RIP Okwaraji). It was around this time that Chief brought Westerhof to Nigeria (I still believe that The Wonder Bee deliberately ensured that we lost in Yaounde, because he wasn't happy about Westerhof's presence).

It was reported that Paul Biya made a special appeal to Roger Milla, that he should come out of retirement. There was some concern because Cameroon's coach was Valerie Nepomniachi and the Lions were in the same group as the Soviet Union. I was a bit disappointed in Cameroon and Egypt for sending second string teams to the Nations Cup.

The anticipation was incredible. Segun Odegbami had started his Sunday morning Serie A show a year before and great things were expected from the A.C Milan Trinity, the Inter Milan Trinity and the two gods at Napoli. The tv graphics were wonderful, the stadiums were beautiful and the models at the opening ceremony reminded me of *****

The first match set the scene for the drama that would continue throughout the tournament. That man came out during the warm up before the game and started juggling the ball with his shoulders. The crowd went crazy. Neat trick. It was impressive, but why was he showing off?

I watched the match with bro and at a point he referred to Cameroon as "we". We? I never thought that I would hear a Nigerian refer to Cameroon as we. Then there was the roar when François Omam Biyick scored that goal. The whole neighbourhood screamed GOAL! That kind of roar was usually reserved for the Nigerian national teams! Nigerians were cheering the enemy of 1984, 1988 and 1989! This was incredible. I told some of the inmates that Cameroon won the game, but none believed me.

There were so many stars on display, great football on the pitch and drama off it. An appeal was made to the citizens of Naples to forget about their god and support their national team.

There was the clash of the trinities, which was overshadowed by the spitting war. I thought that the referee would only send off Rijkaard and was a little surprised when Voellar was also sent off. Extra police had to be deployed to the border.

Then there was the Italian crowd. They didn't understand Cameroon. They didn't know that their whistling would have no effect on the Lions. I had studied Cameroonian and Egyptian football and I knew their characteristics very well. Cameroonian footballers were ginormous monsters who enjoyed manhandling their opponents. They were also very good at the dirty tricks game (like the Argentinians and North Africans) and they played the most delightful form of negative football. This consists of knocking the ball around in their own half without any intention of attacking the opponent's goal or trying to score. There were regular back passes to Nkono or Bell (this was before the back pass rule) and they would manhandle any opponent that tries to disrupt their game. It was quite funny, if you were neutral, or frustrating if you were the opponent. I was quite used to it, but the Italians would whistle like crazy when the Cameroonians started knocking the ball around in their own half. The Cameroonians couldn't be bothered.

The shock of the tournament for me, was the discovery that England could actually play football. This was amazing. Gascoigne, Lineker, Platt, Waddle, Beardsley and of course Shilton were all amazing (It was a flash in the pan. They won't play like that again until Euro '96).

There were so many stars at this World Cup (partly due to the fact that Serie A was collecting stars like crazy, despite the three players rule). We had Enzo Francescoli, Daniel Fonseca, Ruben Sosa, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Jurgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matheus, Andreas Brehme, Rudi Voellar, Ronald Koeman, Careca, Marius Lacatus, Roberto Baggio, Diego Maradona, Roberto Sensini, Claudio Canniggia, Jorge Buruchaga, Abel Balbo, Romario, Andreas Moller, Franco Baresi, Giuseppe Bergomi, Walter Zenga (the cat), Salvatore Schillaci, Thomas Hassler (the free kick god), Brian Roy, Hans Van Breukelen, Gheorge Hagi, Tomas Skhuravy and many more.

Those three painful matches.

It was 20 years since Brazil had won the World Cup. This was supposed to be Careca's World Cup, so I was sure that Brazil would do me a favour and get rid of those Argentinians. The skillful Brazilians vs the rough and dirty tricks playing Argentinians. But it was not to be. That man Canniggia.

Ok then, my second favourite team would do the trick. Baggio, Schillaci, Baresi, Bergomi and Zenga. Another appeal went to the citizens of Naples, "Support your national team". Schillaci did what he does best, but it was not to be. This result was very painful.

Cameroon had played beautiful football throughout this tournament and produced, what for me was the goal of the World Cup (I know that Higuita likes to pretend that he's an outfield player, but didn't they tell him who Roger Milla was? Wasn't he informed? ), so I should support them, but these upstarts had beaten us in 2 Nations Cup finals (1988 hm!) and I didn't want them to have bragging rights over us. Now, England usually play rubbish football and their media make too much noise, but things were different this time. They actually showed that they could really PLAY. So I was neutral before the game. I just wanted to enjoy good football. It was great, but unfortunately Cameroon went back to their bad habits in the latter stages of the game. Rough play! This was one of the reasons why I hated them in the 1980s. I said unfortunately. Yes! I went from being neutral to supporting Cameroon. Isn't that strange?

Something must have happened in heaven on the day of the World Cup final. They might have been spring cleaning or mourning someone, or there was a huge leak somewhere. It rained elephants and hippos! It had rained for most of the week, but this particular storm started around 1pm. This was the first time in my life that I was afraid that my house would get flooded. it was that bad. It was still bucketing down at 7pm. NEPA did what they do best and the gen was bad. I made my decision around 7:15. I would go to the place that never suffers power cuts to watch the match. There was no way that I'd miss the World Cup final.

There was something strange about this storm. It seemed like the world was about to come to an end while I was in both compounds. There were almost gale force winds and the large drops of water (which were falling almost horizontally) felt like stones, but it was much calmer on the street between both compounds. It felt like there was just a mild shower, despite the fact that the street was flooded

I had faith in Germany. They were not as spectacular and entertaining as Italy and Brazil, but they knew how to absorb pressure and hit you with their counter attacks. Dirty tricks don't work on them. They'll just calmly manage the situation. So the final was between one of the trinities vs one of the gods (and a brand new superstar).

That man was even more annoying that night. His trick was to fall down anytime the wind blew and then get up and beg the referee on behalf of the person that he was trying to get sent off, but like I said, the Germans knew how to manage it. In fact, this time, the Argentinians got a taste of their own medicine. Sensini fouled Vollar in the boxand one of the trinity, Andreas Brehme, scored from the spot. There was commotion on the pitch. I was happy. Beckenbauer became the first person to captain and coach a World Cup winning side. Maradona cried.

There were lots of stars at this World Cup, but my players of the tournament were Walter Zenga, Salvatorre Schillaci, Roger Milla, Roberto Baggio, Claudio Canniggia and Sergio Goycochea.

It wasn't Careca's World Cup. It was Schillaci's.

orikoku:
All souls will taste death. Rest on man.

naptu2:
Heartbreak again.

(The authorities issued an appeal to the Neapolitans that they should support Italy).

Italy 1-1 Argentina (3-4 on penalties).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNWjhpD9iJQ?si=sDCM2mrVXJYsQDlt