‘¡Viva Bolivia!’ South America’s poorest and most put-upon nation had defeated the Goliath of the North, and that night anything seemed possible, though the historically significant events in Bolivia that year were taking place elsewhere, and had nothing to do with football. For the Bengali and, I dare say, for football fans in the global south in general, one of the reasons the game is so important is because it’s a trickster’s game. A footballer who can katao is the best, because that’s what football is about. Everyone (well, almost everyone) had the Panini sticker album and was blowing all their pocket money trying to complete it. No doubt Butcher couldn’t help it, though twenty and even thirty years later he was still talking about wanting to punch or throttle Maradona for the goal he’d scored unapologetically with his fist four minutes earlier. “Diegoal! Before the 1986 World Cup, hardly anyone in India knew of Maradona. The Azzurri overcame all the odds, controversy, doubts and even scandal to lift the 1982 World Cup. ‘I was expected to praise the referees after all that?’ And it has always seemed to me – though this probably only goes to show, once again, that I’m not a real football fan – that the Hand of God was a far lesser crime than all the punishment meted out on Maradona’s ankles over the years. He wrote his autobiography there: ‘Here in the Havana night, while I learn to savour Cuban cigars, I begin to remember,’ turning his mind back to Villa Fiorito, the ‘poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires’ where he grew up, in a house ‘where it rained more inside than out’. 28 Little Russell Street ‘Then you heard only: “Diego! Think what you like, Ron, but Scirea was no slouch. Opponents who couldn’t take the ball off him had to find another way to stop him. r/soccer: The football subreddit. Raised in Villa Fiorito, a notoriously rough slum located in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, he escaped a life of poverty and crime to achieve his dreams. After five minutes, having been fouled yet again, he was lying on the ground in agony, but got up to take a free kick that Valdano slotted home. Would Messi have had the same success as Mardona against defences having Maldini, Baresi, Tasotti, Bergomi, Scirea and Gentile week-in week-out? It’s the art of katano. This site requires the use of Javascript to provide the best possible experience. The British tabloids couldn’t let it go even after Maradona’s death last month, several of them declaring in their headlines that he was now ‘in the hands of God’. Scirea caught up … But Maradona was more savvy in 1986, not the least because he now plied his trade in Italy, and knew exactly how to counter the Italian defence. Please include name, address and a telephone number. There’s one key attribute that elevates a footballer in the eyes of a Bengali. You see, it was never about following European club football. And then came the “Hand of God”. Diego Maradona in action against Belgium in the semi-final of the 1986 World Cup. He failed another drugs test, this time for adrenaline, in the 1994 World Cup in the US. Argentina and Italy played to a 1-1 tie. In January 2000, Fidel Castro invited him to Cuba to get clean. What was really intolerable was that Maradona could sneak a handball past the keeper and the ref – a trick, let’s not forget, that involved outjumping a man seven inches taller than him – when he didn’t even need to, as he insouciantly demonstrated a few minutes later, zipping through the England players like a motorcycle through a traffic jam. After Napoli won the league, Berlusconi offered to double Maradona’s salary if he went to AC Milan. He ran rings around Uruguay, who seemed so intent on stopping the Argentina captain that they were unable to string together too many attacks of their own. Poll closed Oct 3, 2011. It’s easy to see the two goals as representative of the two sides of Maradona, the genius and the cheat. Maradona was just as brilliant in the semi-final against Belgium and the final against Germany. Why Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to visit Pakistan, 90-year-old Bengaluru woman in 'thukdam', or post-death meditative state, surprises scientists, What Assam’s move to 'secularise' education misses, In Punjab, families of the 'disappeared' await justice. A few days after Maradona died, Roberto Saviano, the journalist and author of Gomorra, spoke on Italian TV about what he had meant to Naples, their ‘natural alliance’ of ‘generosity and craftiness, instinct and calculation’. He was polymorphous. He lacked the physique to do so. L'uomo e il campione, un esempio per tutti - Man, champion, example for all - Duration: 16:59. Someone put a giant poster up on the classroom wall, a composite image of action shots of the star players, with Michel Platini – the undisputed king of European football – in pride of place. Maradona kisses the World Cup trophy after Argentina defeated West Germany 3-2 in the final. Saved by Manuel Nappo. In the quarter-final against England, Terry Butcher sliced him down after he’d outpaced five England players to score the ‘Goal of the Century’. Coached by Carlos Bilardo, the Albicelestes played in a counter-attacking 3-5-2 formation, with Maradona playing as traditional No.10, and striker Jorge Valdano the most advanced player, coming in from the right wing to capitalise on Maradona’s through-balls. Diego Armando Maradona (Spanish: [ˈdjeɣo maɾaˈðona]; 30 October 1960 – 25 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager.Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award. Usai menerima umpan terobosan dari gelandang Argentina, tanpa mengontrol bola terlebih dulu, Maradona langsung melepas sepakan ke gawang yang mengecoh bek Gaetano Scirea … Hear it from Japanese farmers, In photos | Iconic movie stars we lost in 2020, This vegetarian kebab recipe will bring the hills home, How a blue whale song led scientists to a new population in Indian Ocean. If you could get a colour TV set, that is. Gentile pushed, body-checked and scythed down the Argentina No.10 repeatedly, completely throwing him off his game. All Blacks pay tribute to Maradona before match vs. Pumas. It’s a lovely thought that football players can solve people’s problems through playing, I wish we could.’ He couldn’t solve anyone’s problems, least of all his own. Anyone who thinks that Argentina robbed England of the World Cup need only watch the semi-final against Belgium, a masterclass they won 2-0, both goals scored by Maradona. Maradona proved too quick for him, as he did for almost everyone. At his first touch in the South Korea game, less than a minute in, Maradona had been surrounded by three opposition players. And what a goal it had been – ‘a lovely goal’, he called it in his autobiography, ‘one of my best ever’ – racing past Gaetano Scirea to pick up Jorge Valdano’s pass, springing into the air just outside the six-yard box to take the ball at the top of the bounce, almost as if he were playing tennis with his foot, tapping it home with his left instep past the keeper’s outstretched hand into the far corner of the goal. When he arrived – and more than seventy thousand fans turned out at his presentation to welcome him to the San Paolo stadium (which is now going to be renamed after him) – the club had never won a title and was struggling to avoid relegation from Serie A, which was dominated then (as it is again today) by the wealthier northern teams. Cosmic kite! In Kolkata, there’s East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting—more than enough clubs to support. One of the oft-repeated truisms of tournament football is that teams need to pace themselves, slowly growing into the tournament and reaching top gear at the business end. Vijay Rahaman takes us back to one of Italy’s greatest sporting achievements. In the 1982 World Cup, Maradona had arrived as a much hyped 21-year-old. letters@lrb.co.uk Italy’s hard man defender Claudio Gentile was assigned the task of marking Maradona. London, WC1A 2HNletters@lrb.co.uk It was only fitting then that he would be the one to bring Argentina level. He expected his loyalty to be repaid. None of those goals was scored by Diego Maradona, but he set them all up. Maradona failed a drugs test in March 1991, testing positive for cocaine, and was banned for 15 months. Then Maradona took it upon himself to set things right for Argentina. The referee didn’t see it, and Maradona gambled, pretending it was a perfectly legal headed goal, even as the England players howled with outrage. 31-ago-2017 - Argentina vs Italy..1982..Diego Maradona was manhandled by the Italian defence. Italy 1 Argentina 1 in 1986 in Puebla. He stayed where he was. His triumph in the 1986 World Cup, stupendous though it was, is in many ways eclipsed by what he achieved at Napoli between 1984 and 1990. Did none of these boys remember how they’d felt, or what they’d said, about Maradona only days earlier? Although Argentina only won 1-0, the margin would have been far bigger had his teammates put away the many chances that Maradona had laid on a plate for them. I had wanted England to win and my heart, too, leaped when John Barnes came on to make those electrifying runs up the left wing, and Gary Lineker scored. Gaetano Scirea (Italian pronunciation: [ɡaeˈtaːno ʃʃiˈrɛːa]; 25 May 1953 – 3 September 1989) was an Italian professional footballer who is considered one of the greatest defenders of all-time.. Scirea is one of only five players in European football history to have won all international trophies for football clubs recognized by UEFA and FIFA. Writing after Maradona’s death, footballer after Indian footballer has pointed out the pivotal role that 1986 played in their understanding of the game’s full potential. Diego!” We all began to support Maradona. Cambiasso and Simeone will have their hands full with blanchflower and seedorf so not sure how much they will be helping out. He had the talent but not the sheer willpower. Gaetano Scirea 0 vote(s) 0.0% Elias Figueroa 0 vote(s) 0.0% Dearman Member. Maradona held him off, and while falling over, slipped the ball into the empty net. The ball sticking to his left boot as if in thrall, he went past Fenwick into the penalty area. But there are other connotations too: to dodge, swerve, feint. Korea were playing in only their second World Cup after 1950, and the match was the walkover many had predicted. He could be considered an even better footballer than Maradona, but Messi has failed quite spectacularly with Argentina. And then, to the quarter-final, and the most famous match in World Cup history. The team’s quick counter-attacking style was firing on all cylinders. !. Maradona was also named Player of the Tournament. In that moment, our homeland … was Diego.’. Please change your browser settings to allow Javascript content to run. The likes of Scirea, Barresi etc were more skilful and blessed than any of the lesser mortals playing at this moment. Opponents who couldn’t take the ball off him had to find another way to stop him. I didn’t say anything, but I marvelled at how quickly adulation could turn to hate. The No.10 skipped past his marker down the left, before swivelling to hit a pin-point cross for Burruchaga to head in. It is but Vierchowod(has kept van basten/maradona quiet) is a far better defender than montero, scirea vs azpi is also a no contest. He was coming off his best season yet for Napoli, guiding the Neapolitans to third in the Serie A and finishing as the club’s top scorer with 11 goals. Apart from the biggest talent in the world, that is. Maradona, the arch-trickster, sprang to life when England defender Steve Hodge sliced a clearance high into his own penalty box. ‘I was used to getting the shit kicked out of me when I played with the kids, but here I would soon learn that I had to jump in time … If you don’t learn that, after the third kick you can’t go on.’ In September 1983, when he was at Barcelona, his ankle was broken by a vicious sliding tackle from behind by Andoni Goikoetxea, the Butcher of Bilbao. Until 22 June, he was everyone’s hero. Argentinian forward Diego Maradona (R) and Italian defender Gaetano Scirea during the World Cup first round match between Argentina and Italy 05 June 1986 in Puebla. Maradona! Diego Maradona’s career saw extremes of joy, success and adulation. Get a summary of the Italy vs. Brazil football match. England were in fine form in the tournament, and in Gary Lineker, they possessed the deadliest striker of the World Cup, with five goals to his name. Picking up the ball in the centre-circle, in the Argentina half and facing his own goal, Maradona spun around, completely wrong-footing Peter Beardsley and Peter Reid. And it would be fair to say that since Maradona’s humiliating exit from the world stage after failing a dope test, the search has been on for the next master of katano from Argentina. By It didn’t last. For the longest time, the match was nothing to write home about. Goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Maradona went for the ball, both leaping for it...and then Maradona poked it over the much bigger Shilton’s head with his left hand. In the main this was because Indian television was in its infancy. Maradona, in an unforgettable run, in the play of all time. In many ways, the Argentina of 1986 were similar to Napoli: a primarily defensive-minded team with few outstanding talents. Such was Juventus’ dominance in the 1970s that eight of the starting 11 for that tournament played for them. After his appearance in the match against SPAL, Giorgio Chiellini became the fifth Juventus player with more official appearances of all time, after Del Piero, Buffon, Scirea, Furino Close 70 Among Maradona’s highlights was a gorgeous free kick which bounced off the bar and a parade of flicks, drag-backs, quick turns and breathtaking close control. Read | Diego Maradona at World Cup 1982: the innocent devil. Everyone high-mindedly claimed it was the Hand of God they couldn’t stand, but I wondered, and still wonder, if it wasn’t the second goal that riled them; or both goals together, in such close order. His performance in these two games alone would have made him an all-time World Cup icon, but coming after the “Goal of the Century”, you could say that the two games were rather underwhelming (they weren’t).

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