.. Retro Football: Gentile, Scirea, Maradona e Tardelli, 1982 ... Scirea, Maradona e Tardelli, 1982. But both Argentina and Maradona had already found their groove by the time they met Bulgaria in the third group-stage match. And our fascination with him never paled. London Review of Books, But that only diminishes him. Valdano’s lobbed pass duly arrived. Scirea caught up … You see, it was never about following European club football. ITA vs BUL - Scirea tackling a Bulgarian player ARG vs KOR - Maradona gets past a Korean defender ARG vs KOR - Maradona is brutally tackled by a Korean defender ARG vs KOR - Argentina goalie Pumpido makes a save ARG vs ITA - Maradona tackled by Italy's Bagni ARG vs ITA - Cabrini and Ruggeri in an aerial battle ARG vs BUL - Maradona with a heel-kick Apart from the biggest talent in the world, that is. read. There was a lot of pre-tournament interest in the South Korean team – they’d qualified for the first time since 1954; the Seoul Olympics were coming up; subliminal Cold War brainwashing – but that soon faded after they lost 3-1 to Argentina in their opening game. Gaetano Scirea (Italian pronunciation: [ɡaeˈtaːno ʃʃiˈrɛːa]; 25 May 1953 – 3 September 1989) was an Italian professional footballer who is considered one of the greatest defenders of all-time.. Scirea is one of only five players in European football history to have won all international trophies for football clubs recognized by UEFA and FIFA. And then, to the quarter-final, and the most famous match in World Cup history. Anyone who thinks that Argentina robbed England of the World Cup need only watch the semi-final against Belgium, a masterclass they won 2-0, both goals scored by Maradona. None of those goals was scored by Diego Maradona, but he set them all up. As they celebrated in the streets, no one really paid me any attention, though a few people now and then, assuming I was norteamericano, taunted me with the result. Should you be worried about new coronavirus strains? Maradona! Pure football genius.”. Read anywhere with the London Review of Books app, available now from the App Store for Apple devices, Google Play for Android devices and Amazon for your Kindle Fire. Maradona, in an unforgettable run, in the play of all time. A place in the semi-finals was up for grabs. Maradona in 1984 was ‘broken, famished and restless’, Saviano said, and ‘therefore perfect for Naples’. He could be considered an even better footballer than Maradona, but Messi has failed quite spectacularly with Argentina. Enigma_87 said: r/soccer: The football subreddit. The referee didn’t see it, and Maradona gambled, pretending it was a perfectly legal headed goal, even as the England players howled with outrage. Such was Juventus’ dominance in the 1970s that eight of the starting 11 for that tournament played for them. In Kolkata, there’s East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting—more than enough clubs to support. That’s just not true, they either support Brazil, or they support Maradona. He had a personal demon to exorcise as well. Maradona vs Messi is the Hottest Debate in Football Circles. I happened to be in La Paz on 11 July 1995, the night Bolivia unexpectedly beat the USA 1-0 in the Copa América in Uruguay. Think what you like, Ron, but Scirea was no slouch. The No.10 skipped past his marker down the left, before swivelling to hit a pin-point cross for Burruchaga to head in. Usai menerima umpan terobosan dari gelandang Argentina, tanpa mengontrol bola terlebih dulu, Maradona langsung melepas sepakan ke gawang yang mengecoh bek Gaetano Scirea … London, WC1A 2HNletters@lrb.co.uk Writing after Maradona’s death, footballer after Indian footballer has pointed out the pivotal role that 1986 played in their understanding of the game’s full potential. Would Messi have had the same success as Mardona against defences having Maldini, Baresi, Tasotti, Bergomi, Scirea and Gentile week-in week-out? Burruchaga’s 77th minute goal was from another piece of Maradona magic. After his appearance in the match against SPAL, Giorgio Chiellini became the fifth Juventus player with more official appearances of all time, after Del Piero, Buffon, Scirea, Furino Close 70 He lacked the physique to do so. The likes of Scirea, Barresi etc were more skilful and blessed than any of the lesser mortals playing at this moment. By identifying with Maradona, Bengalis were also tapping into their own anti-colonial history. Scirea VS Figuroa. vhs challenges the great samples of the 80s platini, zico, maradona, scirea, antognoni, conti, rummenigge, p. rossi, di bartolomei vhs sealed duration 65 miniutes more than 1850 positive warranty feedback !! By But Maradona, seen live on screen, was nothing short of mythic. Italy’s hard man defender Claudio Gentile was assigned the task of marking Maradona. When he arrived – and more than seventy thousand fans turned out at his presentation to welcome him to the San Paolo stadium (which is now going to be renamed after him) – the club had never won a title and was struggling to avoid relegation from Serie A, which was dominated then (as it is again today) by the wealthier northern teams. World Cup - Spain 1982, Second Round Barry Davies, commentating for the BBC, cried out, “You have to say that’s magnificent! Diego!” We all began to support Maradona. Cosmic kite! Argentina Feb 24, 2010 Bangkok, Thailand ... Maradona was 16 and played 11 games the year Figueroa won his third award (1976). In the round-of-16 match against Uruguay, Maradona seemed to be playing a different game from the other 21 players around him. (Photo: Getty Images), Diego Maradona and the story of the 1986 World Cup, What's real wasabi? Here was a diminutive, slightly squat man, taking on the Europeans and then demolishing them as he ran circles around them. London, WC1A 2HN He was polymorphous. ‘I was used to getting the shit kicked out of me when I played with the kids, but here I would soon learn that I had to jump in time … If you don’t learn that, after the third kick you can’t go on.’ In September 1983, when he was at Barcelona, his ankle was broken by a vicious sliding tackle from behind by Andoni Goikoetxea, the Butcher of Bilbao. England vs Argentina. They already loved Brazil, with that team’s jogo bonito (the beautiful game) forming a sort of ideal for Indian football in general. Scirea caught up with him though and Maradona seemed to be heading out too wide to the left. And he delivered. (They had been friends since 1987.) At his first touch in the South Korea game, less than a minute in, Maradona had been surrounded by three opposition players. Rijkaard-Platini-Beckenbauer-Iniesta-Scirea-Kalle vs Pele-Ronaldo-Maradona-Cafu-Nesta. Opponents who couldn’t take the ball off him had to find another way to stop him. Sat., Nov. 28, 2020 timer 1 min. the author. Maradona proved too quick for him, as he did for almost everyone. There’s one key attribute that elevates a footballer in the eyes of a Bengali. Maradona was just as brilliant in the semi-final against Belgium and the final against Germany. And Diego Maradona, who died on 25 November at the age of 60, was the ultimate trickster, the artful dodger, the fox who became the king of the jungle because he willed it so. Under Maradona’s captaincy, Napoli won the scudetto in 1987 and 1990, finished second in 1988 and 1989, and took the Coppa Italia in 1987 and the Uefa Cup in 1989. In many ways, the Argentina of 1986 were similar to Napoli: a primarily defensive-minded team with few outstanding talents. In the 1990 World Cup, Argentina faced Italy in a semi-final in Naples. But I wasn’t prepared for the animosity and invective directed against Maradona in the playground the next day. But then, in the 68th minute, Claudio Caniggia equalised for Argentina. Ron Atkinson was less impressed than he should have been: ‘The feller’s a little bit quick … that’s what makes him special, but I still think the defender was a little bit steady there.’ Think what you like, Ron, but Scirea was no slouch. What planet are you from, to leave in your wake so many Englishmen?” screamed Radio Argentina’s commentator Victor Hugo Morales in Spanish. Argentina cantered to a 3-0 lead by the 46th minute, with Valdano scoring two goals and Oscar Ruggeri the third. Everyone (well, almost everyone) had the Panini sticker album and was blowing all their pocket money trying to complete it. In the 36th minute Valdano received a pass in front of the Italy penalty box. The first game in Group A was against South Korea. It’s a lovely thought that football players can solve people’s problems through playing, I wish we could.’ He couldn’t solve anyone’s problems, least of all his own. ‘Soy inglés,’ I replied earnestly, as if anyone cared. A footballer who can katao is the best, because that’s what football is about. ‘Then you heard only: “Diego! In the main this was because Indian television was in its infancy. The Editor What was really intolerable was that Maradona could sneak a handball past the keeper and the ref – a trick, let’s not forget, that involved outjumping a man seven inches taller than him – when he didn’t even need to, as he insouciantly demonstrated a few minutes later, zipping through the England players like a motorcycle through a traffic jam. This site requires the use of Javascript to provide the best possible experience. Diego Maradona is tracked by Gaetano Scirea in Group A at the World Cup Finals. It’s the art of katano. Loosely translated, it would mean “to dribble”. ‘¡Viva Bolivia!’ South America’s poorest and most put-upon nation had defeated the Goliath of the North, and that night anything seemed possible, though the historically significant events in Bolivia that year were taking place elsewhere, and had nothing to do with football. Maradona was already running at full speed to meet the pass before the ball had even left Valdano's boot, rushing past Italy defender Gaetano Scirea. The Azzurri overcame all the odds, controversy, doubts and even scandal to lift the 1982 World Cup. He wrote his autobiography there: ‘Here in the Havana night, while I learn to savour Cuban cigars, I begin to remember,’ turning his mind back to Villa Fiorito, the ‘poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires’ where he grew up, in a house ‘where it rained more inside than out’. He played his first professional game for Argentinos Juniors (their ground is now named after him) in October 1976, when he was only 15, and showed his skill by nutmegging Juan Domingo Cabreras. London Review of Books It’s an oft-repeated fact that Bengalis (and Malayalis) are split down the middle between supporting Brazil and Argentina. Maradona was under no illusions about football’s symbolic power, or its limits. So while Bengalis are fond of Messi, they don’t really care as much, because Messi's exploits have been with Barcelona. While Doordarshan had broadcast the semi-finals and final of the 1982 World Cup live, the entirety of Mexico ’86 was broadcast live, and in colour. Maradona failed a drugs test in March 1991, testing positive for cocaine, and was banned for 15 months. Bulgaria was duly rolled over 2-0, with Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga scoring one goal apiece. England were in fine form in the tournament, and in Gary Lineker, they possessed the deadliest striker of the World Cup, with five goals to his name. He ran rings around Uruguay, who seemed so intent on stopping the Argentina captain that they were unable to string together too many attacks of their own. On the other hand the pace of the game is vastly superior in the Messi era comapared to the Maradona era, when goalkeeper could still pick up the backpass. Back to the Bengalis. He then speeded down the right, swerving past a lunging Terry Butcher. Someone put a giant poster up on the classroom wall, a composite image of action shots of the star players, with Michel Platini – the undisputed king of European football – in pride of place. For the Bengali and, I dare say, for football fans in the global south in general, one of the reasons the game is so important is because it’s a trickster’s game. Terry Butcher came again to tackle. ‘The knocks were big,’ he remembered. Then, Pablo Aimar. Not even Pelé in 1970 dominated an entire tournament all by himself, the way Maradona dominated Mexico ’86. Vijay Rahaman takes us back to one of Italy’s greatest sporting achievements. After five minutes, having been fouled yet again, he was lying on the ground in agony, but got up to take a free kick that Valdano slotted home. He had the talent but not the sheer willpower. Jul 26, 2019 #54 Jim Beam The Joker. Maradona, the arch-trickster, sprang to life when England defender Steve Hodge sliced a clearance high into his own penalty box. All Blacks pay tribute to Maradona before match vs. Pumas. Saved by Manuel Nappo. In the quarter-final against England, Terry Butcher sliced him down after he’d outpaced five England players to score the ‘Goal of the Century’. In that moment, our homeland … was Diego.’. I was disappointed by the result of that game, of course. Bibek Bhattacharya. Coached by Carlos Bilardo, the Albicelestes played in a counter-attacking 3-5-2 formation, with Maradona playing as traditional No.10, and striker Jorge Valdano the most advanced player, coming in from the right wing to capitalise on Maradona’s through-balls. He expected his loyalty to be repaid. For the longest time, the match was nothing to write home about. Maradona, a yard ahead to the left, probably anticipated a first-time chipped pass from Valdano. Juventus 138,647 views And what a goal it had been – ‘a lovely goal’, he called it in his autobiography, ‘one of my best ever’ – racing past Gaetano Scirea to pick up Jorge Valdano’s pass, springing into the air just outside the six-yard box to take the ball at the top of the bounce, almost as if he were playing tennis with his foot, tapping it home with his left instep past the keeper’s outstretched hand into the far corner of the goal. Zico is fair enough (2nd in 76, 1st in 77). For the entirety of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half, the only thing of note was England defender Terry Fenwick’s persistent fouling of Argentinian players, including a punch on Maradona’s head in the 50th minute. ‘The fouling was unbelievable,’ he later wrote. News, results and discussion about the beautiful game. It’s enough to make you cry, forgive me. Maradona was also named Player of the Tournament. But there are other connotations too: to dodge, swerve, feint. Although Argentina only won 1-0, the margin would have been far bigger had his teammates put away the many chances that Maradona had laid on a plate for them. And 1986 was Maradona’s World Cup. During the tournament, the Azzurri used the entire Juventus back four of Gentile, Cabrini, Scirea and Antonello Cuccureddu, all in front of their domestic team mate Dino Zoff. Unlike my friends whose fathers took them to watch Aldershot’s Fourth Division tussles on Saturday afternoons, I don’t remember watching a football match before the 1986 Mexico World Cup, when I was already nine and a half. Please include name, address and a telephone number. He failed another drugs test, this time for adrenaline, in the 1994 World Cup in the US. (Photo: Getty Images), Diego Maradona at a felicitation ceremony in Kolkata in 2008. Goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Maradona went for the ball, both leaping for it...and then Maradona poked it over the much bigger Shilton’s head with his left hand. The next game against reigning world champions Italy was trickier. The Ballon d'Or Dream Team is an all-time all-star team published by France Football on 14 December 2020 after conducting an internet poll of fans to select a football dream team starting from October 2020. It was only fitting then that he would be the one to bring Argentina level. L’Équipe, an impartial paper, went with: ‘Dieu est mort.’. He stayed where he was. But Maradona was more savvy in 1986, not the least because he now plied his trade in Italy, and knew exactly how to counter the Italian defence. 28 Little Russell Street It’s easy to see the two goals as representative of the two sides of Maradona, the genius and the cheat. It didn’t last. But, for ninety minutes at a time, he could make everyone forget them. A brilliant YouTube clip shows Gentile’s adroit practice of the defensive dark arts on a young Maradona. After Napoli won the league, Berlusconi offered to double Maradona’s salary if he went to AC Milan. Please include name, address, and a telephone number. Ihave​ a theory – more of a hunch, really – that to be a real football fan you have to commit to a team by the age of six, or eight at the latest. Maradona was almost untouchable and Valdano was in ruthless goalscoring mood. Maradona – who knew all too well how atrociously the city was treated by the north of the country – told the press the Neapolitans should support him rather than the Italian national side. The British tabloids couldn’t let it go even after Maradona’s death last month, several of them declaring in their headlines that he was now ‘in the hands of God’.