Mourning Maradona
TOO young to go. That’s Diego Maradona, the football legend from Argentina, who just died at age 60 following a heart attack.
Like practically all sporting greats, Maradona was well loved in his heyday. But he lost many fans for drug addiction.
A prodigy, he easily made it to the Argentine Under-20 national team at age 17 in 1977. He earned global stardom with his two spectacular goals in a 2-1 Argentine victory over England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals match in Mexico City.
The first goal was an un- penalized handling foul described cryptically as the “Hand of God.”
The second goal came after completing a stunning 60meter dribble, Maradona cleverly snaking past five England players. In 2002, that winning goal was voted the “Goal of The Century” by FIFA.com.
In the 1986 Finals, Maradona went on to power Argentina to a 3-2 victory over West Germany for the World Cup trophy, considered the world’s most precious piece of metal in sports.
He was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Born 30 October 1960 in Lanus, Buenos Aires
Province, Argentina, Maradona died 25 November 2020 in Tigre, Buenos Aires.
An attacking midfielder, Maradona was a national player for 17 years from 1977 to 1994, winning the 1979 Under-20 World Cup in Japan and the MVP trophy as well.
Maradona became the first player in history twice to record transfer fees for 5-million pounds to Barcelona and 6.9-million pounds to Napoli.
He was also voted co-equal with Pele as the two greatest football players of the 20th century.
At the time of his death, he was coach of the Argentine Primera Division Club Gimnasia de la Plata since 2019.
Here’s more from Wikipedia: “Maradona’s vision, passing, ball control, and dribbling skills were combined with his small stature (1.65 meters—5-foot-5), his low center of gravity allowing him to maneuver better than his rivals. Dribbling past multiple opposing players on the run, he was a free-kick specialist. Maradona was called ‘El Pibe de Oro’ (The Golden Kid). He was also a troubled character, who was banned in both 1991 and 1994 for abusing drugs.”
Even legends are no saints. Still, Argentina is crying.