FIFA World Cup™ Star 1938 --
Silvio Piola
| Last century’s 1930s were dominated
by Italian football. The journalist and football instructor Vittorio
Pozzo, from the newspaper “La Stampa”, had led Italy to the 1934 FIFA
World Cup™ title at home. |
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Two years later, Pozzo also achieved the Olympic victory with a
new team in Berlin. In 1938, the “Squadra Azzurra” successfully
defended the “Coupe Jules Rimet” at the World Cup in France.
Each
of the winning teams had an outstanding player: in 1934 it was Guiseppe
Meazza, in 1936 Ugo Frossi, and 1938 was marked by Silvio Piola. In
Italy, his name stands for goals and overhead kicks. When FIFA asked for
the best footballers of all time at the turn of the century, the
Italian, who was born on September 29, 1913, at Robbio Lomellina, and
died on October 4, 1996, at Gattinara, came 51st in the world ranking
list. For the centre forward with the “golden feet” it was the reward
for a great football career between 1929 and 1954. Piola made history
with his performances at the FIFA World Cup™ tournament in France. |
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His artistic play has become a particular part of legend in
Italy. After two goals in the quarter-finals against the hosts, France
(3-1), the French media baptised him “Executioner of French” (“Borreau
des Francais”). In the final, Piola scored the goal to go ahead 2-1 and
then the last in the 4-2 triumph over Hungary. The Hungarian
international Pal Titkos later described his impressions of the final:
“We wanted to be like lions which tear up everything. But we were
without the fight and spirit of our leader, Toldi. We were eleven
players, but not a team. The Italians had three commanding players in
attackers Meazza, Piola, and Ferrari.” Goalgetter Titkos particularly
praised his colleague Piola: “He stood in the centre, between his two
close team-mates. Silvio Piola had a fantastic physique and constantly
overran his opponents. He was a man of great versatility and a centre
forward without fear. He exploited any opportunity for shooting on
goal.” Piola himself referred to the style of play of the then
outstanding “Squadra Azzurra” as a pointer for the future: “We were the
predecessors of modern, athletic football. However, after this final we
had to admit that the Hungarians were technically the better football
players.”
Piola was discovered as a youth by a football-enthusiast
priest. Don Sassi was immediately impressed by the 1.78m, 77kg player
because of his intrepid nature, his speed, and his jumping and shooting
power. A good grasp of the game and quick reflexes in front of the
opposing goal made Piola an outstandingly promising talent. Don Sassi
procured the young forward for the then extraordinarily successful club
US Pro Vercelli, a club in the bishop’s city in the Po flats. The son of
a cloth merchant, he played his first championship game for the
“Eagles” at the age of 16. |
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On March 24, 1935, Piola made his debut for the national team
in Vienna. Italydefeated Austria 2-0. And it really was the debutant who
beat Austria. Piola stood in for FIFA World Cup™ champion Meazza and
scored both goals. In 1937 and 1938 he was nominated for the so-called
World Selection. At the FIFA World Cup™ in France, he not only finished
the second highest scorer with a tally of five goals, he also made the
All-Star Team and was elected the best player of the tournament. World
champion Piola, who scored two and assisted in one of the altogether
four goals in the final in Paris, played his last international match as
captain of the “Squadra Azzurra” against England (1-1) in Florence on
May 18, 1952. He earned 34 caps and scored 30 goals.
In between
his first division debut on February 16, 1930, in Bologna and his
farewell as a football professional on July 3, 1954, in Bergamo were 24
years in which Piola played for Pro Vercelli, Lazio Rome, AC Turin,
Juventus Turin and FC Novara, achieving a total of 566 championship
matches and 290 goals. He still holds the match-record in Italy. He
became famous for his acrobatic overhead and falling side kicks which
were celebrated in stadia around the world as artistic sensations of
that time. Even after his active career Piola remained linked to
football. He became manager of Lazio Rome, then Italy’s junior coach,
adviser to the Italian Football Association in 1976, and was given an
honorary doctorate by the University of Rome for his life merits in
1987.
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