Apologies for that goal not accepted

The man whose goal bundled Ireland out of Italia '90 tells MARY HANNIGANabout those World Cup finals and his 'rispetto' for Giovanni Trapattoni

IT’S THE eyes we’ll never forget, and how they widened in a slightly manic way during those frenzied celebrations that followed each of his six goals at the 1990 World Cup finals, the fourth ending Ireland’s Italian holiday that summer. Toto Schillaci, the name as memorable as the face.

In Dublin at the invitation of Boylesports, Schillaci, at 44, has worn well, but in 1990 he was thinning on top . . . in 2009 he has a head of hair that would be the envy of a Bee Gee. “Toto Depp,” his friends tease him.

It’s as miraculous a development as the Notti Magiche di Toto Schillaci 19 years ago, the “magical nights of Toto Schillaci”, as the Sicilian’s extraordinary World Cup was dubbed back home.

That’s a very famous face in Ireland, you tell him. “Grazie,” he says, “to be loved here is very special. It is a very pretty place.”

The weather, you like? His smile fades to a frown, like he’d just missed an open goal. He looks out at the grey sky and shrugs. “The sun finds it very difficult here. But it is better for your skin.” “Diplomatico,” laughs Cormac Browne, Schillaci’s interpreter, as his client points to his own impossibly tanned face.

Since he retired from football he has filled his days with media work and the running of two soccer schools, one outside Brussels, the other in his home town of Palermo. The academy in Sicily, Assocazione Calcio Louis Ribolla, where 350 children get an education as well as being coached in football, is his pride and joy, his way, he says, of giving back to the community in to which he was born, the son of a bricklayer.

DESPITE HIS noble intentions the school, ironically, landed him in a whole heap of trouble when he was accused of calling in the mafia to help get to the bottom of a string of burglaries there. He denied the charge, told the judge his memory escaped him when asked for a defence, and ended up with a fine. And last summer he failed to turn up in court when summoned as a witness in a mafia trial. They weren’t the first times, though, that Schillaci had been accused of having those connections.

So puzzled was Italy by his inclusion in the 1990 World Cup squad suggestions were made that coach Azeglio Vicini had been, well, encouraged to call him up. Sicily, in his defence, responded with fury – typical northern Italians, assuming a Palermo boy could only make good with the help of, well, you know.

By then, though, he’d got his dream move to Juventus, after seven years of prolific goalscoring with Sicily’s Messina in Serie B and C. But even having scored 15 goals in his first season with the Turin club there was still surprise that he made the Italia ’90 squad. And no one was more surprised than himself.

“I didn’t expect to be in the squad, never mind the team,” he says. “Even to be on the bench was, for me, amazing. And I just thought I would be on the bench all the time, I never expected to be running around. But I learned a lot from the great players in the training camp before the World Cup, so I just tried to make the coach think “hmm, this guy is in great form, maybe . . .”

By Italy’s third group game Vicini was convinced, Schillaci, having come on to score the only goal of the game against Austria in Italy’s opening match, replacing Gianluca Vialli in the starting line-up against Czechoslovakia. He scored. He scored again against Uruguay, Ireland and Argentina in the semi-finals, when Italy lost on penalties. He made it six goals, enough to win him the Golden Boot, with the winner from a penalty against England in the third place play-off.

An extraordinary month in your life?

“Yes, yes, I had the Midas touch,” he laughs. “But I was just determined to make the most of this great occasion and this great chance I had been given. I always tried to give my all, and I played with joy. In the back of my mind there were always more grave situations in the world compared to what we did – we were famous, we were doing something creative on the field, it was natural that I would be smiling and enjoying myself.”

Did Ireland surprise you that night?

“Ah si,” he nods. “We were surprised by how much they ran at us, a very decisive team, very tough, physical – big beasts,” he laughs. “It was the hardest match we played in, and it was the hardest goal of the six that I scored.”

HE GOES on to remind us how he scored it, Roberto Donadoni’s initial shot, Packie Bonner’s parry and . . . but he can tell from the faces looking at him that there’s no need, it’s like he scored it 20 minutes ago. His laughing apology is rejected.

“I still have the (Irish) shirt at home,” he says — he’s not certain, but he thinks he swapped with Andy Townsend. “My son Mattia was born during the World Cup, I have a photo from the paper, I have a big black eye, and I’m wearing the Irish shirt.”

Did that month change your life?

“Si, I wouldn’t be here now,” he says of his second visit to Ireland (the first was to make a Smithwick’s ad after Italia ’90). “Winning the Golden Boot made me known throughout the world, but it didn’t change me – I was the same man after the World Cup as I was before, all that changed was everything around me. Suddenly everything you do in your life, even outside football, is watched, you become an ambassador. It was a whirlwind, not something I was expecting.”

He was only 25 during Italia ’90, but it proved to be the peak of his career. He scored just one more goal for Italy, the following year. A priest in Palermo even held a mass for the locals to pray for Schillaci to rediscover his form, but their prayers, largely, went unanswered. After a short spell with Inter Milan he was Japan-bound on a €2.5 million contract to the then burgeoning J League, and by the time the 1994 World Cup came around he was yesterday’s man.

HIS TWO seasons under Giovanni Trapattoni at Juventus, though, were, he insists, happy times, his fondness for his old manager evident. “Bravo,” he says, laughing while he imitates Trapattoni scurrying around. “I am always asking him ‘when are you going to give up?’, but I think never. He still thinks he’s a young man – he’s 70 years old! But his hunger and enthusiasm will keep him going.”

Did you fear or respect him at Juventus, or both? “Rispetto! I had a great relationship, he had great faith in me. The great managers must be everything, a father figure, a friend, they must be tough when they have to be, he was all of that for me. He can let his passion out, his anger, but he has charisma. Old school. He charges you up with his energy.

“No, I was not surprised when he became manager of Ireland. I remember the style of football Ireland played back in 1990 and Trap, being more old school, would have appreciated that style. I think the Irish personality and Trap’s personality is a good fit. I can’t wait for him to go back to Italy (for tomorrow’s game), it will be very emotional. He will be received very well. Rispetto.”

After his spell in Japan Schillaci retired from the game, with no regrets. “No, I was free! I didn’t have to worry anymore about all the heavy training, I could look after my kids, my wife, my family. I looked to the future. Yes, in the beginning it was hard, trying to adjust, but I still play in the Masters’ League so that gives me my football, my fix! But lots of different opportunities came along so you start a new life.”

“I was on L’isola dei Famosi (Italy’s version of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here – he came third), it helped me reach a new audience – people of my son’s age don’t remember too much about 1990! I just wanted to show another side of my personality. Have a bit more fun.

“I still get offered all these things thanks to that World Cup – television ads, media work – I am like Trap, I like to keep busy! I hope to go even longer than Trap, always keep working.”

Rispetto. Despite that goal.