Diego Maradona: A peculiar choice of FIFA ambassador
Hand of God
Naturally in England we remember the ‘Hand of God’ goal Maradona scored in the 1986 World Cup which helped defeat us, more like ‘The Devil’s claw’. Maradona rose to handle the ball past England‘s Peter Shilton.
Although damage was done earlier: the Argentine sliced delicately and skilfully past six hopeless and hapless challenges, scoring a timeless tournament goal. Argentina went on to triumph at the tournament. Maradona lifted the trophy.
This was just after the time of the Falklands war and the Argentinian held a grudge against the English. In turn, Gary Lineker recently said some of his teammates on the day are ‘still bitter towards Maradona’ and always will be.
Pele, in a wildly non-astute way, said of the incident: “I don’t think Maradona is to blame for impulse.” Well, who is then? Am I biased as an Englishman, possibly, but cheating is fraud.
Although I believe in winning sporting contests by any means necessary – that hand ball was blatant and infantile, on the largest stage. No bitterness here, honest.
Argentina, and the man himself, consider the foul innovative. And the church of Maradona – yep, it exists – say the moment brought their countrymen together.
Downfall
I cannot find confirmation of this, but below is a video supposedly showing Maradona’s drug use – on the actual football pitch! Although this incident came as his career wound down; it is a charity match in the States.
Rejuvenated
According to Wikipedia: ‘From the mid-1980s until 2004, Maradona was addicted to cocaine. He allegedly began using the drug in Barcelona in 1983. By the time he was playing for Napoli, he had a regular addiction, which began to interfere with his ability to play football.’
After multiple stints in rehab and hospital during the 2000s, he eventually announced sobriety in 2007. Since those darker days, Maradona reinvented himself as a football executive, coach, manager and finally, a presenter. He bizarrely had a television show in Argentina.