[ad_1]
Updated: November 26, 2020 7:45:59 am
People stand next to the statue of Diego Maradona during his presentation in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2018. (AP)
In his slalom race, Diego Maradona, who passed away on Wednesday, opened up brutal defenses with a simple snap of his left boot.
It will be a farce to remember the career of the Argentine legend simply through the goals he scored; Maradona and his myth go much further. His career, in fact, is a collection of little magical moments on big stages, sometimes with his words and reactions, but often it was the ‘leg of God’ that spoke completely.
‘Burying’ the English defense
They were inside a medical room, waiting to deliver their urine sample, when Maradona made the surprising confession to Terry Butcher, England’s burly center-back. “Hand or head,” Butcher asked Maradona just half an hour after the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals. “Hand,” Maradona replied.
To this day, Butcher maintains that he will never forgive Maradona for the most famous cheating incident in sport. But he was among the first to admit Maradona’s genius in the goal that followed, which brought nearly half of the English to their knees.
First, Maradona did a pirouette on Peter Beardsley in the middle of English. Then he passed a tired Peter Reid, he passed Butcher and then, with a wonderfully delayed touch, he took Terry Fenwick out of the equation. He circled goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Butcher’s desperate sliding challenge was in vain as Maradona scored arguably the biggest goal in football to set up Argentina’s victory.
The BBC commentator’s choice of words in describing the goal as it happened summed up the humiliation of the English players: “Maradona spins, like an eel… He comes inside Butcher, he leaves him for dead. Outside of Fenwick. He leaves him for dead and saves the ball. And that is why Maradona is the best player in the world. He buried the English defense “.
Swish and assist vs West Germany
Maradona didn’t necessarily have to be near a goal to hit. It could also do it from the middle line, as West Germany experienced.
Franz Beckenbauer had seen how Maradona had embarrassed both England and Belgium on his way to the 1986 World Cup final. So the West German captain instructed his players to be tough on the Argentine; In his opinion, that was the only way for his team to win the title, given that West Germany had puffed and puffed to reach the final.
In one of the best World Cup finals of all time, Argentina and West Germany tied 2-2 with 10 minutes remaining. The Beckenbauer boys had done a good job of keeping Maradona out of danger zones by using a combination of man marking and manipulating skills.
But it was not possible to prevent Maradona from having an impact, at least in that World Cup. It seemed like a very simple move when Maradona spun with a ball that bounced off the center circle. He quickly had two green jerseys, and it was safe to assume, following the trend of the game, that the ball would be snatched from him.
But then, showing his unrivaled vision, Maradona played the ball in an open space on the right with a simple click of the left boot, to free Jorge Burruchaga, who had time and space to score the World Cup winning goal.
The ‘other’ hand of God
In the adopted city of Maradona, Naples, the lesser known handball arrived.
Four years after the incident against England, Maradona once again guided the ball with his hands. This time, against the USSR. But it was not to score a goal. Instead, it was to prevent his side from falling.
Both Argentina and the USSR had lost their first game at the 1990 World Cup. The score was 0-0 when a shot from a Soviet striker seemed destined to find the back of the net. But out of nowhere, Maradona appeared and, with his hands, hit the ball.
Read | Diego Maradona and his hand with God
Igor Shalimov, who made his World Cup debut in that match, recalled the incident in a Guardian column: “The ball was heading for the goal, the referee (Erik Frederiksson) was six meters from the incident and saw everything with clarity … Yes, you have different types of handball when there is no intention, but in this case, a man deliberately manipulated the ball away from his goal. It wasn’t just that the ball hit his band: there was a wave of the hand. He hit the ball. “
Frederiksson did not commit a foul, the USSR were denied a goal and were later eliminated from the tournament while Argentina won the match 2-0, before finally reaching the final.
Dribbling vs Brazil
Maradona injured his knee ahead of the 1990 World Cup, and Argentina was not the same as four years before. Still, they reached the final, where they faced their eternal rival Brazil, who had won all their matches and conceded a single goal.
The final was the complete opposite of the 1986 title fight. It was disheveled and disjointed, as are the finals of ten. But it was Maradona’s genius that opened the game. Maradona collected the ball in his own half and embarked on a characteristic dribble. He beat three Brazilians in his slaloming career and, when the fourth tried to close it, he made room for Maradona to pass the ball to Claudio Caniggia, who beat goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel to score a goal.
Even a medium-fit Maradona could draw players.
The final touch: the God against the Greeks
It is one of Maradona’s best goals, but also the one that is less talked about because of what happened next. Against Greece in the 1994 World Cup group stage match on June 21, 1994, Maradona completed an intricate one-touch team play by turning while shooting the ball into the upper corner of the goal in the 4-0 win. More than the goal, it was the celebration that went down in history: Maradona ran towards the camera, wide-eyed and screaming with rage and joy. Nine days later, he failed a drug test. His legendary career ended and he was sent home in disgrace.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
