Maradona will be sadly missed

SUPERSTAR Maradona is dead. If not the greatest, he is, at least, one of the greatest footballers who ever walked on the face of the planet. Tributes poured in from all over the world for the sporting giant who died at the age of 60.

Maradona will always be remembered for the two famous goals he scored against England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals in Mexico.

The first was when he cheated with the “hand of God” goal and the second was even better when he showed his soccer skills he had learnt playing in the streets of a shanty town on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Dribbling past the defenders he put the ball into the net and later won the Fifa goal of the century award, leaving a disenchanted Pele in second place. It was a sweet victory for Argentina as their hero Maradona had avenged their defeat at the hands of the English at the Falklands War of 1982.

Maradona shot to fame after the World Cup heroics and was idolised around the world.

But his fame was also his own undoing. He abused his body with drugs and alcohol, put on weight and ballooned like a football. In 1986 he was Argentina’s hero when he lifted the World Cup trophy and then a few years later, plunged into the depths of despair when he was ignominiously sent home from the 1994 World Cup for failing a drug test, suspended for 15 months and banned again for another 15 months for doping. It was the end of a brilliant career.

Maradona couldn’t handle his superstar status and lost his way along life’s perilous journey. It’s an all too familiar story, of a man who rises to fame and fortune, only to go hurtling down into the dumps.

Despite his drug addiction, the world will never forget the ‘ charismatic and controversial’ player who became a cult figure in Argentina and worshipped as “El Dios” – The God. But, just as he was an inspiration to soccer players around the world, Maradona should be a stark reminder to all addicts of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

He will be sadly missed by his soccer fans who may find some consolation that the man who tormented the English with his infamous “hand of God” goal is now in the hands of God.

T MARKANDAN | Kloof