[ad_1]
The games have gone ahead in South America amid the coronavirus pandemic: only one event, the death of Diego Maradona, was able to stop the show.
The Copa Libertadores clash between Internacional of Brazil and Boca Juniors of Argentina was postponed following confirmation of the news that Boca legend Maradona had passed away on Wednesday at the age of 60 at his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires after a heart attack.
As the match was due to start, Internacional paid tribute to Maradona by lighting up his stadium with Argentina’s blue, a remarkable feat. Blue is the color of Gremio, Inter’s local competitors in Brazil’s fiercest rivalry. Normally, Inter would never embrace color. But then the death of Maradona is not an ordinary event. And, as this story makes clear, it is a fact that is not only deeply felt in Argentina.
Brazilian artists Mulamba posted on social media a photo of Maradona emerging triumphant after scoring against England in the 1986 World Cup. The point: Maradona’s body is shaping South America.
See this post on Instagram
It belonged to Argentina, of course. And to Naples. But it also belonged to his home continent. It could almost have been invented to illustrate the history and importance of South American soccer.
The game caught on in the port cities of the Southern Cone in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a time of mass immigration and rapid urbanization, when a new working class was open to new traditions.
Soccer was introduced by the British, arriving full of prestige. It moved rapidly down the social ladder, taken over by the locals and reinterpreted, emerging as a graceful dance, ideal for those with a low center of gravity. And this reinterpretation led to international triumphs and recognition from a part of the world that was generally hungry for such things.
– Marcotti: Maradona’s greatest flawed football genius
“> https://www.instagram.com/p/CIBfMznpR9K/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading” data-instgrm-version = “13” style = “background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; shadow-box: 0 0 1px 0 rgba (0,0,0,0.5), 0 1px 10px 0 rgba (0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; maximum width: 540px; minimum width: 326px; padding: 0; width: 99.375%; width: -webkit-calc (100% – 2px); width: calc (100% – 2px); “> See this post on Instagram
It belonged to Argentina, of course. And to Naples. But it also belonged to his home continent. It could almost have been invented to illustrate the history and importance of South American soccer.
The game caught on in the port cities of the Southern Cone in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a time of mass immigration and rapid urbanization, when a new working class was open to new traditions.
Soccer was introduced by the British, arriving full of prestige. It moved rapidly down the social ladder, taken over by the locals and reinterpreted, emerging as a graceful dance, ideal for those with a low center of gravity. And this reinterpretation led to international triumphs and the recognition of a part of the world that was generally hungry for such things.
– Marcotti: Maradona’s greatest flawed football genius
– Messi on the passage of Maradona: ‘Diego is eternal’
– Diego Maradona: the life of football greats in pictures
– Social networks pay tribute to Maradona
This establishes the wide canvas on which Maradona painted his masterpieces. Part Italian immigrant, part Native American, it could almost have sprung from the collective South American imaginary of what a soccer star should be like: a boy born on the wrong side of the urban sprawl, dark, short and stocky. . with unruly hair. A boy with a quick body and sharp mind, part bright smile, part malicious cunning.
And if Maradona appears almost like a scripted character from a work of fiction, so does the game that defined his life. Their performance against Belgium in the 1986 World Cup semi-final was even better. And in the final he came up with the pass that scored the winning goal. But it is the quarter-finals against England that have provided the prism through which the extremes of his life have been viewed.
Diego Maradona 1960-2020
Argentine legend Diego Maradona died on Wednesday at the age of 60 at his home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires after a heart attack. Read more.
• Messi: Maradona is ‘eternal’
• Marcotti: Maradona, an imperfect genius
• Statistics: measure greatness in numbers
• Kempes: Maradona, an Argentine legend
• The life of Diego Maradona in pictures
• Maradona and Pele highlight the debate on the GOAT
• Italy will never forget Maradona
• Social networks react to the death of Maradona
• Moreno: Maradona a genius and a god
• Pope Francis mourns the death of Maradona
The war for the Falkland Islands between Argentina and the United Kingdom just four years earlier gave a specific Argentine dimension to the occasion. But scoring those goals against that opposition is also a South American revenge fantasy, for the way they believed the then British-run FIFA despised the continent in the 1960s and, more deeply, for the power they had wielded over it. continent at the height of colonialism.
Maradona’s notorious “Hand of God” goal, when he threw a punch that surpassed goalkeeper Peter Shilton and entered the net without the referees seeing him, was seen as a tribute to the intelligence of the South American streets. His glorious second, scored after a supreme solo career with the ball that started in his own half, as a testament to natural talent. Together, they serve as a living record of a continent’s potential, and perhaps also its fascination with curves rather than what some might view as a limiting obsession with the straight line.
Maradona walked those curves with a captivating and charismatic spontaneity. Here’s an obvious contrast to the cooler and more calculating Pelé. Pele’s story fits the classic three-act model; The hero emerges in a blaze of glory, the hero goes through setbacks and doubts, the hero comes to win in the end. Maradona’s life doesn’t fit such an orderly pattern. It’s as confusing as one of his dribbles. Had he died in 2004, it would have been easier to pigeonhole him as a warning about the dangers of arrogance. But there were twists in the story as he got back in shape and launched a coaching career. Now it seems clear that he needed the discipline of training.
Argentine soccer closed in March due to the pandemic, and when he returned less than a month ago, on his 60th birthday, he was no longer in a position to work. You may have had too much free time to deal with too many demons.
When his death was announced on Wednesday afternoon, the Argentine press came with a recent photo of him to illustrate the news. This 21st century Maradona will surely go down in history. The Maradona that will remain will be the one from 1986, immortalized in the act of striking Argentina, South America, and millions of people around the world who could relate to this chubby little man from the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.
Source: espn.co.uk
[ad_2]
