[Football] Maradona has died

[Mental Lental]

Some people are just bitter and twisted on this thread.

The hand of God was 34 years ago. Get over it.

Name one player that never claimed a dubious handball, off side, throw in, or just fell over in the penalty area. Football is full of it.

In the dribbling clip, Maradona doesn't fall over once, despite the increasing violent attempts to tackle him and bring him down. If they had connected, most of them would broken a leg or worse.

He was the best and most gifted player of his generation, who hauled two bog-standard Argentina teams to World Cup finals almost on his own.

A genius. Flawed, but still a genius.

This is the correct answer.

These people speaking ill of the greatest footballer of his generation, on the day his death is announced, just because he didn't fess up to scoring a goal with his hand against England in such a high stakes game as a World Cup Quarter Final 34 years ago.......

Really need to give their heads a wobble. Christ, judging by some of the reactions on here you'd think he was some kind of fascist dictator who'd killed millions.

Very poor form NSC.

Very poor.

 

[stingray]

So you are essentially saying that you are OK with players cheating? Don't recall Charlton, Eusébio, Best or Pele doing any of the above?

far more cheated against than cheater. was kicked all over the pitch throughout his career, during 86 World Cup and elbowed in the face in that QF.

RIP maestro, we'll never see your like again.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Have to say he ruined my first real WC experience in '86, so my 14 yo self still cannot forgive that. However, rather than this game, better to remember his performance in the next - the semifinal vs Belgium. As pointed out in the comments, a bobbly pitch couldn't stop him. Imagine how he would have played on the smooth carpet at the Amex..

https://youtu.be/0E9qCaoEgl8

 

[peterward]

There will be an out pouring of grief in Argentina like never before. In my opinion the Argies are without doubt the world's most passionate football supporters.

On a recent radio programme I recall the pundits describing a skill that they had only ever seen Maradona perform. He used to kick the ball very, very high and then get under it and volley it back into the air several times in a row. They all agreed that no one else had mastered that skill.

My only surprise about his death is that he managed to last until 2020. He was the greatest player I ever saw.

Youre not wrong. Former Argentina player Jorge Valdano reporting for Spanish TV tonight on the Champions League, breaks down :-(

He was a living legend to the nation.

[tweet]1331703615635992584[/tweet]

 

[Easy 10]

Have to say he ruined my first real WC experience in '86, so my 14 yo self still cannot forgive that. However, rather than this game, better to remember his performance in the next - the semifinal vs Belgium. As pointed out in the comments, a bobbly pitch couldn't stop him. Imagine how he would have played on the smooth carpet at the Amex.

Indeed. And without the constant factor of every opposition player on the pitch being given licence to chop him in half.

I've not read the whole thread, but its predictable I guess that some people are seemingly celebrating, or at least revelling in his death. I posted an RIP on my FB page, and the first reply was "Good. Cheat". Now i'll admit the 15-year-old 1986 version of me would not have pissed on his gums if his teeth were on fire. But as time and years have elapsed, I've mellowed. And I've marvelled at the footage of him, the grace, power and balance of Maradona at his peak. If you don't love what Maradona did with a football, then you don't love football. If your mind is narrowed to one incident on a pitch, unfortunately against us, over a phenomenal career, then how can you love the game, when you see what that man could do.

As an adult I was already over the Sun-hyped "super villain" of '86, and my colouring of him further softened having seen that superb documentary that came out last year, which filled in so many gaps of the kind of stifling, incessant pressure he was under on a human level, away from the adulation on the pitch.

Some people will always hate him because of that QF. But if you can pan back from that and just look at the player he was, how can you NOT thrill at what he could do ?

 

[Easy 10]

I'll be honest about this. As a footballer he had God-given talent but he has also been influential in creating the modern game we see today, and not in a good way.

I am old enough to realise that Argentina would have beaten us in 1986 - with or without the Hand Of God - but it seems everyone cheats like Maradona now, and football is the poorer for it.

Sorry Pav, I normally nod sagely to your posts as we are usually on the same wavelength, but this is proper bobbins.

I'm not denying that courtesy of Diego, we happened to be on the receiving end of 1 of the 2 singlemost greatest travesties in the ENTIRE HISTORY of the World Cup (the other being Lampards 'goal' against zee Germans). But you cannot extrapolate that Maradona handball incident in 86' as the example that set all ills in the modern game.

He cheated with a handball - NOT with diving, which you seem to be alluding to. If you take a look at any of those YT vids of him dribbling, the last thing Maradona was famous for is diving. Much like Messi, he routinely took an absolute hammering from the opposition, but invariably (and mostly successfully) tried to ride it out. If you can find me footage of Maradona taking a non-contact dive and rolling around in fake agony, then I will repost on here with an image of a 3-legged unicorn with a green cock.

 

[Easy 10]

Lovely story from Lineker when he played with Diego in one of those England v ROTW games. In the warm-up, Maradona was hammering the ball directly up, high into the sky on the volley, and did it 13 times without the ball touching the floor, he barely moved 3 yards. Lineker went back to Barca the next day and they all tried it - the most anyone could manage was 3, and they were proper running and stretching for the 3rd.

Different gravy.

 

[Klaas]

Indeed. And without the constant factor of every opposition player on the pitch being given licence to chop him in half.

I've not read the whole thread, but its predictable I guess that some people are seemingly celebrating, or at least revelling in his death. I posted an RIP on my FB page, and the first reply was "Good. Cheat". Now i'll admit the 15-year-old 1986 version of me would not have pissed on his gums if his teeth were on fire. But as time and years have elapsed, I've mellowed. And I've marvelled at the footage of him, the grace, power and balance of Maradona at his peak. If you don't love what Maradona did with a football, then you don't love football. If your mind is narrowed to one incident on a pitch, unfortunately against us, over a phenomenal career, then how can you love the game, when you see what that man could do.

As an adult I was already over the Sun-hyped "super villain" of '86, and my colouring of him further softened having seen that superb documentary that came out last year, which filled in so many gaps of the kind of stifling, incessant pressure he was under on a human level, away from the adulation on the pitch.

Some people will always hate him because of that QF. But if you can pan back from that and just look at the player he was, how can you NOT thrill at what he could do ?

Excellent post which deserves more than a, but I'm going to do it anyway, THIS.

Can I throw in Jimmy Burn's book Hand Of God too. I read it years ago, so much so that I can't remember most of the contents (sounding like a anti masker, plandemic type here) but I do remember thinking it was brilliant and that it completely changed my view of him. Used as a political football (/pun) from an early age I think. Must watch that documentary.

There was another documentary years ago which had a lot of his time at Napoli. The footage of him playing was sublime.

So, RIP Maradona. I still am left open mouthed by that second goal.

 

[Klaas]

The most astonishing player I have seen over the last 50 years, and he had to contend with some pretty brutal treatment. Anyone remember The Butcher of Bilbao?


https://youtu.be/f9_f9UrizSk

For Andoni Goikoetxea Olaskoaga, though, it is not an award, medal or shirt that takes pride of place in his home. Instead, it is said that displayed proudly in a protective glass box in his living room are the pair of football boots worn on the day he broke the ankle of one of the game’s greatest ever players.

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/12/14/andoni-goikoetxea-the-butcher-of-bilbao/

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Maradona ......a great player certainly , but the best ever? Such claims are subjective but for me Pele was the more complete footballer.
Maradona the man was , sadly, a terrible person... but the world remembers, quite rightly his skill. Hardly worth all the outpouring of praise though, in my opinion.

 

[Stat Brother]

Maradona ......a great player certainly , but the best ever? Such claims are subjective but for me Pele was the more complete footballer.
Maradona the man was , sadly, a terrible person... but the world remembers, quite rightly his skill. Hardly worth all the outpouring of praise though, in my opinion.

Hmmmm I dunno.

Pele played at a time when everybody was a bit 'amateur'.
He also played with some other greats of the game.

Maradona straddled both era's of football, excelled in both and was mercilessly kicked throughout.
As others have said he also reached the very top within very very ordinary teams.

Watching the Assif documentary, last night, I was struck by the state of the '86 pitches.
He was running with the ball at his feet and the ball was just randomly bouncing.
The players might have become professional, throughout his career but the pitches still weren't.



As silly and subjective as the GOAT conversation is there are only 4 players in it and Maradona trumps one of them in 'round 1' just by association.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

A sad day. Watching that 8 minute YT video reminds me of what a utterly fabulous player he was. He was super strong, pretty quick, blessed with magic feet and also a confident mind full of wit and verve. Outside the game he seemed as extreme as he was on the pitch. People have said he was only 60, but boy what a 60 years. He packed more into those years than anyone could achieve in multiple lifetimes. He certainly lived a full life and left his mark.

But above all he made me gasp and he made me smile, and that’s how I’ll remember him.

God bless, RIP.

 

[Spicy]

Will he be remembered for his skills or his cheating and drug use.

Sadly it will be for the latter, but we remember Geroge Best as being a great footballer, not for his drinking and social life. But then again he wasn't assisted by the hand of God.

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

The G.O.A.T. debate will always be impossible to pin down because of the evolution of the game. But for me, you can't be the GOAT if you're a cheat. And he was a cheat. Bernd Schuster, his teammate at Barcelona, said after the '86 quarter final that he practised that handball move in training. And then he was slung out of the 94 World Cup for failing a drugs test.

Is Armstrong still the greatest cyclist of all time? Maradona shouldn't even be part of the conversation IMO.

 

[zefarelly]

Maradona ......a great player certainly , but the best ever? Such claims are subjective but for me Pele was the more complete footballer.
Maradona the man was , sadly, a terrible person... but the world remembers, quite rightly his skill. Hardly worth all the outpouring of praise though, in my opinion.

Agreed. There are and were better and more complete players and I've mourned the death/celebreated the life of many better people already this year.

 

[zefarelly]

Sadly it will be for the latter, but we remember Geroge Best as being a great footballer, not for his drinking and social life. But then again he wasn't assisted by the Liver of God.

fixed

 

[El Presidente]

The G.O.A.T. debate will always be impossible to pin down because of the evolution of the game. But for me, you can't be the GOAT if you're a cheat. And he was a cheat. Bernd Schuster, his teammate at Barcelona, said after the '86 quarter final that he practised that handball move in training. And then he was slung out of the 94 World Cup for failing a drugs test.

Is Armstrong still the greatest cyclist of all time? Maradona shouldn't even be part of the conversation IMO.

I'm trying to think of a player who isn't a cheat though?

If you rule out those who have made a meal of a foul, claimed a throw in or corner when they knew they last touched it, dived in the box, handled the ball slyly, tried to get another player a yellow or red it doesn't leave very many.

 

[Doc Lynam]

Bit of a rare one here; this is one of technically the most impressive things I've ever seen. As recounted by Zidane, in a small exhibition match at the end of the game Maradona hits the post (on purpose) 5 times then chips the keeper!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK843s9BwVs

 

[Simster]

The G.O.A.T. debate will always be impossible to pin down because of the evolution of the game. But for me, you can't be the GOAT if you're a cheat. And he was a cheat. Bernd Schuster, his teammate at Barcelona, said after the '86 quarter final that he practised that handball move in training. And then he was slung out of the 94 World Cup for failing a drugs test.

Is Armstrong still the greatest cyclist of all time? Maradona shouldn't even be part of the conversation IMO.

Comparisons with Armstrong don't really work. The reasonable assumption is that the only reason Armstrong was at the very top was because he used illegal substances. Maradona may have been sly but a) one handball incident has no impact on the rest of his footballing ability and b) he was cheated as much as he did the cheating. The view that Pele was better is fair enough, but to suggest Maradona shouldn't be part of the conversation is absolute nonsense. He's one of the 4 players who genuinely contest the GOAT moniker and that won't change just because he cheated against England. And Shilton is a complete nob anyway.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Comparisons with Armstrong don't really work. The reasonable assumption is that the only reason Armstrong was at the very top was because he used illegal substances. Maradona may have been sly but a) one handball incident has no impact on the rest of his footballing ability and b) he was cheated as much as he did the cheating. The view that Pele was better is fair enough, but to suggest Maradona shouldn't be part of the conversation is absolute nonsense. He's one of the 4 players who genuinely contest the GOAT moniker and that won't change just because he cheated against England. And Shilton is a complete nob anyway.

Spot on. The comparison to Armstrong is totally wrong and really bizarre.

And Shilton isn't just a nob, he's a massive thundercunt. Embarrassed still he let Maradona do that bearing in mind the height difference and he's probably just dived now to save to save one of those penalties against Germany thirty years too late.