This article was originally published on 22 June 2017, 31 years to the day after the quarter-final between England and Argentina
22 June 1986, will forever be etched in the fabric of football.
At the famous Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, in front of nearly 115,000 sun-drenched fans, Diego Maradona confirmed his place in the history of the sport as one of the greatest – and most controversial – players of all time.
No words can do Maradona’s second goal in the World Cup quarter-final justice.
Picking the ball up in the Argentine half, he danced and pirouetted away from two opponents.
Driving forward, he waltzed past Peter Reid, skipped inside Terry Butcher, left Terry Fenwick for dead, before sitting Peter Shilton down and evading Butcher’s despairing slide tackle.
It’s up there with Carlos Alberto for Brazil in 1970 for goal of the century. Just watch.
Maradona’s mother called it the best goal she had ever seen in her life. An opinion not shared by the mother of England left-back Kenny Samson.
“She hated Maradona,” says Samson. “She is up somewhere else now but probably still wants to punch him.”
Fitting, as that’s exactly what Maradona did to the ball, putting Argentina ahead.
A driving run from diminutive Diego injected the game with a spark of urgency, but two poor touches, one from a team-mate, another from an opponent, saw the ball spin upwards.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Watching the goal back, even though the outcome is known, it’s only on a third viewing that it becomes obvious.
Bogdan Dochev, the assistant referee, said: “Although I felt immediately there was something irregular, back in that time Fifa didn’t allow the assistants to discuss the decisions with the referee.”
While Gary Lineker is not overly perturbed by the incident, Butcher, Shilton and Samson (and his late mother Rose) are all still livid, unable to forgive and forget.
Maradona’s unwillingness to repent did little to allow wounds to heal.
“I am not sorry for scoring with my hand,” he wrote in his book ‘Touched by God: How we won the Mexico ’86 World Cup’. “Not sorry at all!”
In one flick of the hand, Maradona made sure he would go down in infamy in England but, equally, he would be revered for eternity in Argentina.
And Scotland. If you hear the Tartan Army singing the ‘Hokey Cokey’ it is in honour of Maradona and his left hand.
“I know the Scots came up with a chant they sing in the stadium when they play against the English and when they sing it the Scots looks happy,” wrote Diego.
Somewhat surprisingly, the rest of the 90 minutes of football was serene by comparison.
But Argentina treated the game as revenge for the Falklands War four years previously, which claimed nearly 1,000 lives – the majority Argentine.
With the temperature high and passions even hotter, both sets of fans clashed.
In the years that followed the tournament, St George’s Cross flags became noticeable at games of Argentine giants Boca Juniors, having been stolen from English fans by the club’s barra-bravas.
After the game had concluded, both Maradona and the irascible Butcher were chosen to attend a drugs test. Diego ‘escaped’ a potentially fractious situation.
“I did the drugs test with Maradona,” Butcher recalled. “He pointed to his hand. Probably the best thing he ever did, because I would have killed him if he hadn’t admitted it.”
Back in the dressing room, the normally amiable Ray Wilkins chased away the Argentina kitman, who was attempting to swap shirts.
Dochev, the Bulgarian official, passed away two days before the release of Maradona’s book. He had previously admitted that “Diego Maradona ruined my life”.
Even if he scored a goal that is still celebrated 34 years on, he also ruined a summer for millions of England fans with a moment of the utmost deception.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3o2vG7v
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