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Updated: November 26, 2020 6:23:51 am
FILE – In this Oct. 10, 2009 file photo, in pouring rain, Argentine coach Diego Maradona looks up in the pouring rain during a 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer game against Peru in Buenos Aires. (AP)
There are legends, immortals and goats, the greatest of all time. Then there is Diego Maradona. The mythical footballer died, at the age of 60, after suffering a cardiac arrest on Wednesday.
For some, he was the most talented footballer in history, whose feet made the beautiful game even more beautiful. For some, he was the most imperfect genius, flirting with drugs and keeping his friends away from the underworld. For others, he was an outright cheater, scorer, the most reviled and most romantic goal-maker in World Cup history.
Regardless of opinions and perspectives, Maradona was magical, but real. Magical with your feet and real in your life. The most magical and realistic of footballers. One who lived life and football on his own terms. He was not a suitor, never tried to erase his shantytown parenting past, never feigned justice, never denied the darkness of his soul. A human football god, to take a liberty. You could turn his life and football into an exciting bestseller. Both could exist without overlap, and both could thrill. You don’t need to be a soccer tragic for that.
But at this point in the game, it is his football legacy that needs to be appreciated. Short and stocky, his build concealed his agility and dexterity, he was a virtuoso tied to a soccer ball.
Argentine soccer superstar Diego Armando Maradona applauds after Napoli’s team clinched their first Italian league title in Naples, Italy, on May 10, 1987. (AP)
Delve no further into archival memory than the goal of God’s no hand in the quarterfinals against England at the 1986 World Cup. The dreamy fusion of raw rhythm, power, precision and deception had made all involved in the frame look dumb.
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With England still to recover from ‘Mano de Dios’ first goal, physically and psychologically, Glenn Hoddle gave the ball cheaply in the middle of the Argentine half. He was touched upfield for Maradona, who was closer to his own goal than to his center line. Turning around, it took off and passed frozen Peter Beardsley and Peter Reid, then slid to the right. The ball hit his feet hypnotically, as if fascinated by the greatness of the man.
He then taunted Terence Butcher, and then walked in as the strong defender cynically pounced. Maradona sped up and overtook Fenwick, before knocking goalkeeper Peter Shilton off his line. Maradona circled Shilton on the right, keeping Butcher, who had come back with resistance, at bay and placed the ball on the right side of the exposed net.
A great goal, the Spanish commentator shouted. A scream so loud that the commentator emptied two liters of water at once, tells the story.
In this file photo from June 13, 1982, Argentina’s Diego Maradona, up front, is attacked by Belgian Guy Vandermissen during the opening game of the Soccer World Cup in Barcelona, Spain. (AP)
Thus, Maradona adorned, defined and won the 1986 World Cup with his wiles, his sleight of hand, his impressive runs and slalom goals and his determination to make his own destiny.
Read also | The sanctity and fall from grace of the Argentine deity of Napoli
It was never a matter of virtual dreams, because it was very human. There were loads of other goals: shouts from 30 yards, heels from close up, daisy cutters and hammer blowers, but nothing reached the romantic high notes of the World Cup goal. Nada gave the kick of rounding up a goalie and then stepping into an empty net.
The years between Italy 1990 and USA 1994 were perhaps the most difficult time of his life. After a 15-month suspension from international soccer in March 1991 for testing positive for cocaine, Maradona’s soccer career took a deep dive. He fell further into a deeper abyss when he was fired by three sticks, fired a pistol at reporters, was thrown out of one country and denied entry to another. The epitaph was hastily written: The greatest cannot be the greatest.
Diego Maradona blows a kiss to fans in Cannes, France, on May 20, 2008. (AP)
But Maradona was far from finished. For Italy 1990, he went through an intense training regimen and lost 26 pounds in less than six months, coming back fresh and strong. The twists and turns weren’t as quick as in 1986, but he was still an unstoppable force. “If we had won that World Cup, I would have valued it more than the 1986 Cup,” he said in his autobiography.
Then, midway through the 1994 World Cup, Maradona was sent home after failing a drug test twice. A race that had more peaks to climb ended like this on a self-destructive note.
Despite all his flaws and faults, Maradona was still Maradona. Impressed, loved and adored. The brightest dark hero. A common hero with supernatural gifts. So he never strayed from public life: he continued to train, continued to be seen wearing a cigar and diamond earrings, and continued to be hospitalized with alarming frequency for heart attacks, seizures, lung problems, and multiple organ failure.
In ages to come, there could be legends, greats, and GOATS. But there will only be one Diego Maradona.
