Diego maradona the God of Football is a player that even a person who doesn’t follow football would have known and heard. Such was his popularity and habbit of being in the news for all the reasons. He is among the most celebrated players of Football world, Probably the Greatest ever and Certainly one of the best to have ever graced the game.[spacer height=”30px”]
He along with Pele were awarded the FIFA Player of the 20th Century. Having represented Barcelona and Napoli at the club level Maradona represented his country at consecutive Four World cups.
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But his undoubted greatest achievement was 1986 World cup triumph. Heading into the Mexican world cup many gave Argentina a little chance of winning the Title however the archangel that was born single handedly(Literally) led the Argentinian side to their second World cup trophy.[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]Argentina eased through the Group stages with two wins and a draw against Italy with Maradona scoring the equalizer against Italy.Moving on Argentina eased past fellow South-Americans Uruguay in the Last 16.[spacer height=”30px”]
In the Quarterfinals Argentina faced England. The last time these two teams faced in a World cup match turned out to be quite a ugly affair with two Argentineans sent off. This was at the 1966 World cup which England eventually went on to win.[spacer height=”30px”]
The two nations had fought against each other in The Falkland war of 1982 adding onto the historic rivalry between the two nations. During the game Both the teams failed to find the net in the First half. Maradona then handed Argentina the lead with critically acclaimed goal with his hands which the line referee failed to spot and the World immortalized it albeit infamously as the “Hand of God” .[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]Soon after the World watched on still recovering from the injustice dished out to the English side as the Prince of Football followed his infamous strike with a wonderful solo effort which probably even the Gods of Football up there would approve and try to learn from. [spacer height=”30px”]
FIFA World Cup Moments #110: Goal/Iconic – Diego Maradona (Argentina)
1986 World Cup: Argentina 2-1 England
"Simply scintillating. #WC2018: over to you, Leo…"
CC: @Argentina; @England; @Maradona_Group; @fundacionmessi; #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/JpvuBQyHDn
— Lord Morgan of Glossop (@Lord_Morgan87) June 6, 2018
[spacer height=”30px”]Having received the ball in his half Maradona went on to make a 60 yard dribble beating four English Defenders and leaving them on the ground before finally bamboozling the Goalkeeper in his eternal pursuit of Glory . This was declared the “Goal of the Century”and Argentna went on to win the tie 2-1.[spacer height=”30px”]
“He’s going to pass it to Diego, there’s Maradona with it, two men on him, Maradona steps on the ball, there goes down the right flank the genius of world football, he leaves the wing and he’s going to pass it to Burruchaga… Still Maradona![spacer height=”20px”]
Genius! Genius! Genius! There, there, there, there, there, there! Goaaaaaaaal! Goaaaaaaal! I want to cry, oh holy God, long live football! What a goal! Diegoal! Maradona![spacer height=”20px”]
It’s to cry, excuse me! Maradona, in a memorable run, in the best play of all times! Little cosmic kite, which planet did you come from, to leave so many Englishmen behind, so that the country becomes a clenched fist crying for Argentina?[spacer height=”20px”]
Argentina 2, England 0! Diegoal, Diegoal, Diego Armando Maradona! Thank you, God, for football, for Maradona, for these tears, for this Argentina 2, England 0.
[spacer height=”30px”]Maradona later in his Biography claimed that the“Hand of God” was his favorite goal.[spacer height=”30px”]
In the Semifinals Maradona scored another spectacular solo effort to sink the belgian side with 2-0 scoreline. The Finals was set between West Germany and Argentina and once again Maradona was pivotal in the first two Argentina goals but Germany came back from behind to equalize.[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]With German defense extremely resilient and hard to break Maradona couldn’t score but managed to set up a beautiful touch to assist the winner . His majestic one-touch pass with seven minutes to play sent Jorge Burruchaga scoring the winner and taking the Argentineans to their second Title.[spacer height=”30px”]
Over the course of the entire tournament He was involved in 10 of the 14 goals scored by the Argentina with 90 dribbles resulting in 53 fouls making him the most fouled player of the Tournament.[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]He was awarded the Golden Ball for the best Player of the 1986 world cup.[spacer height=”30px”]
In 1990 he emulated the feat by taking his team to the finals once again against the same West German side.But this time a 85 minute penalty for the German side proved to be the decider as the West German’s tasted their revenge with their 2 title.[spacer height=”30px”]
Maradona had a dismal campaign in 1994 were he was sent home after two games for failing a drug test . He scored a goal against Greece adding to his World cup tally of 8 goals.[spacer height=”30px”]
[spacer height=”30px”]Following in his footsteps is another Legend of the game the one an only Lionel Messi who has probably the biggest desire to claim the Golden Trophy for his country. Well if you are to be the heir of the God of Football its only natural you do that by winning the World Cup in the process and that what Messi certainly has in his sights with this being probably his last chance to do just that. No pressure Lad [spacer height=”30px”]
6 Days to go for the Greatest Footballing Fiesta on the Planet [spacer height=”30px”]
Also Relive Some of the Greatest moments of the ‘God of Football’ from the World Cup of 1986 : [spacer height=”30px”]
