I saw a teenage Maradona play at Wembley, did not take a genius to work out that he was an exceptional player. It is a real shame that so much happened that distracted us from that at times.
The 'hand of God' moment is clearly just another clanger to add to the long list by the ridiculously overrated Shilton.
I saw a teenage Maradona play at Wembley, did not take a genius to work out that he was an exceptional player. It is a real shame that so much happened that distracted us from that at times.
The 'hand of God' moment is clearly just another clanger to add to the long list by the ridiculously overrated Shilton.
I remember leaving the house after that game cursing under my breath. I hit the pub and met a few others there too. What we were calling him isn't postable on here but it doesn't take much imagination.
Some years ago a story was (briefly) doing the rounds that he might be managing a lower league club in England. The rumour was probably started by someone having a laugh. Even after all those years I believe such a move would have been disruptive and could easily have led to trouble at matches.
There's no denying his talent, but I'm glad he kept away.
On my extended sabbatical in the America's, I gave a team of latin & South Americans the gift of my football talents. Many of my teammates - particularly from Chile & Uruguay - had an ingrained antipathy towards all things Argentina.
However, they all adored Maradona & to my surprise were ALL more impressed by the suspect 1st goal against England than the incredible 2nd goal. They felt the cheeky unjust nature of it, meant that it hurt - a country that had humiliated them in conflict 4 years earlier - far more than a piece of sublime superior world-class skill.
And you only have to read the comments in this thread to realise that they are right, in the English psyche he will always be defined by that incident.
When I pointed out that he did not have to make the 'hand of god' comment too, they mentioned something else he said, that strangely never gets mentioned over here: 'The 2nd goal was possible because the NOBLE English players did not hack me'... (although, I recall Butcher & Fenwick tried, but were not up to the task).
On my extended sabbatical in the America's, I gave a team of latin & South Americans the gift of my football talents. Many of my teammates - particularly from Chile & Uruguay - had an ingrained antipathy towards all things Argentina.
However, they all adored Maradona & to my surprise were ALL more impressed by the suspect 1st goal against England than the incredible 2nd goal. They felt the cheeky unjust nature of it, meant that it hurt - a country that had humiliated them in conflict 4 years earlier - far more than a piece of sublime superior world-class skill.
And you only have to read the comments in this thread to realise that they are right, in the English psyche he will always be defined by that incident.
When I pointed out that he did not have to make the 'hand of god' comment too, they mentioned something else he said, that strangely never gets mentioned over here: 'The 2nd goal was possible because the NOBLE English players did not hack me'... (although, I recall Butcher & Fenwick tried, but were not up to the task).
On my extended sabbatical in the America's, I gave a team of latin & South Americans the gift of my football talents. Many of my teammates - particularly from Chile & Uruguay - had an ingrained antipathy towards all things Argentina.
However, they all adored Maradona & to my surprise were ALL more impressed by the suspect 1st goal against England than the incredible 2nd goal. They felt the cheeky unjust nature of it, meant that it hurt - a country that had humiliated them in conflict 4 years earlier - far more than a piece of sublime superior world-class skill.
And you only have to read the comments in this thread to realise that they are right, in the English psyche he will always be defined by that incident.
When I pointed out that he did not have to make the 'hand of god' comment too, they mentioned something else he said, that strangely never gets mentioned over here: 'The 2nd goal was possible because the NOBLE English players did not hack me'... (although, I recall Butcher & Fenwick tried, but were not up to the task).
Really interesting post Thad. I happened to be watching the BBC news channel when his death was announced. For at least an hour all we saw was the two goals in that match but the 'hand of god' again and again. This country does tend to get very obsessed with certain things when there is a much wider story to tell.