Diego Armando Maradona —
Appearances: 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994
Boston, June 21, 1994. An era was coming to an end, although no one quite knew it then. Argentina had thumped Greece 4-0, Gabriel Batistuta scoring a hat-trick, and, in between, a 33-year-old Diego Maradona getting one with a glorious left-footed strike after a dizzying sequence of one-touch exchanges outside the penalty area. Having played only a smattering of games for Sevilla and Newell’s Old Boys in the two years since serving a 15-month ban for cocaine use, the world’s greatest footballer looked fitter than ever and primed for another shot at World Cup glory. Four days later, he tested positive for ephedrine, a performance-enhancing and weight loss-inducing substance, and left the World Cup in disgrace.
Maradona’s career had completed the circle that began in 1982, when he had been sent off for kicking Brazil’s Joao Batista in the dying minutes of Argentina’s campaign-ending 1-3 second round defeat.
Four years later, the genius in him overpowered his petulant streak and transformed an otherwise workmanlike Argentina into a World Cup winner. He scored five goals in the tournament, including two in the quarterfinal at the Estadio Azteca — the ‘Hand of God’ goal and the ‘Goal of the Century’ — that will forever the define the two sides of his personality, streetwise genius and footballing god.
Argentina beat West Germany 3-2 in a tense final, where Maradona, his explosive surges contained by a young Lothar Matthaus, had a hand in each of his team’s goals — winning a free kick that led to Jose Luis Brown’s headed opener, the second starting with a quick turn in midfield and the move finished by Valdano, and the third — playing the through-ball out of a tight clutch of German players to Burruchaga, who scored the winner.
In 1990, Maradona was equally influential in setting up another final with Germany. Most memorably, he assisted the only goal in a 1-0 second round win over Brazil, dribbling through the heart of the opposition before releasing to Claudio Caniggia. Argentina scraped past Italy in the semifinals on penalties, with Maradona converting the last of his team’s spot-kicks. In the final, though, Germany exacted revenge for ’86, winning a dull game 1-0.