Diego Maradona: They are crying for him in Argentina!

by Rajan Philips

The 1986 World Cup in Mexico was the first and the only World Cup tournament that I have watched live – every match from the early rounds to the final. Argentina won the tournament, beating Germany 3-2 in the finals. Diego Maradona was the Argentinian captain. He was 26. It was not just Maradona led his team to victory, he carried the whole team throughout the tournament. He owned the tournament. Argentina was a strong team, but not a cup favourite when the tournament started. France and Brazil were. But they met in the quarterfinals, and France edged past Brazil in a penalty shootout. And then the Germans upset the favoured French in the semis and unexpectedly found a spot in the finals.

Argentina’s route to the final was more dramatic and convincing, beating England in the quarterfinals, and then besting Belgium in the semis, both high quality matches. It is the quarterfinal encounter between Argentina and England and Maradona’s two goals in it that became the stuff of legend and made him a permanent national icon in his country. It was the first encounter between the two countries in any forum after the Falklands war four years earlier. There was much riding on it for both teams, if not the two countries. The world was watching.

England was not a bad team. In fact, it was a good team, perhaps the best English team to be assembled after the World Cup winning famous home team of 1966, and the unfortunately losing team four years later, also in Mexico. Captained by the impressive Bryan Robson, the 1986 team had in its ranks among others, the tournament’s best goal keeper in Peter Shilton; the winner of the Golden boot for scoring the highest number of tournament goals, Gary Lineker; and a formidable left-winger in John Barnes, the only Black Player in a European team at that time. Unfortunately, skipper Robson was injured during the second round and was ruled out for the quarterfinal against Argentina.

Argentina won the World Cup at home in 1978, two years after the country had come under military dictatorship. Maradona should have played then but was left out of the team because he was considered too young at 18. He made his debut in 1982, in Spain, but the tournament was a disaster for Maradona and his team. It was also the year of the Falkland war and Argentina had just been ‘defeated’ by Britain then under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, more imperious than the Monarch. A deflated Argentinian team was eliminated in the second round, and Maradona was the target of pre-meditated foul play by every team that he faced. In his final match against Brazil, Maradona returned the foul favour and was thrown out of the field. One year later in 1983, the military dictatorship was overthrown, and democracy was restored. And national football no longer had to be the political football of military juntas.

The match started tight and balanced and the first half ended goalless. Then Maradona took over and cast his magical spell in a span of four minutes. At the 51st minute, Maradona cut in from the left, made a pass to and kept moving looking for the return pass, but the return came from the defending miscue of the English midfielder, Steve Hodge. The ball looped into the penalty box between Maradona and the English goalie. The much shorter Maradona leapt for a header with his left hand raised. The ball went off the left hand and the officials missed it. There was no replay those days and the goal stood. England felt cheated but the Argentinians didn’t care. It became the ‘hand of God goal’, after Maradona famously described it as the goal scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.” Any misgiving about it was erased with what Maradona did four minutes later.

Maradona got a pass inside his own half and then started a 60-yard, 10-second sprint smothering four English players along the way, some of them twice. Inside the penalty box, he fooled the experienced Shilton with a feint and as Shilton stumbled and fell on his backside, Maradona tapped in the “goal of the century.” The Scottish commentator who was on my TV channel ecstatically exclaimed: “Maradona ran through the entire English side to score the goal of the century.” England came back thirty minutes later with a respectable Lineker goal off a delightful long cross from the left by Barnes. It was too little, too late. Maradona was gracious in victory. He complimented the English defenders for playing fair. He called them the noblest of footballers. Any other team, he said, would have cut him down halfway through.

Short at 5’5’’ but mightily sturdy, Maradona was unique as a complete a football player who could do anything in any position on the field. At the tensest moment in a World Cup match he would grab the ball from a teammate to make the throw himself from the sideline. He wanted to direct the play all the time, and had a 360 degree field view. He scored another memorable goal in the semi final against Belgium and made the perfect pass for the winning goal against Germany in the final. Off the field, he became the organic embodiment of the frustrations and aspirations of a mass of followers within Argentina and across Latin America. After a short stint in Barcelona, he took his football to Napoli in Italy and became the raucous idol of that raucous City – taking them to championship victories twice in a row.

In 2000, FIFA declared Maradona and Pele as the sport’s two greatest players. Brazil’s Pele, who won three World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970, is the poster boy of decorum. Maradona was the erratic genius in every way. But he did not hurt anybody except himself ever since he became addicted to cocaine, that ruined his football and caused his early death at the age of sixty. Born to poverty and raised with the resourcefulness of a street urchin, Maradona reached fame and glory in a continent that finds its opium in football. He was loved by his fans and has left a nation in mourning, officially for three days and otherwise forever.