RIP Maradona

Creed_Clicks

Peter Shilton still whinging about it

axisus

The greatest for me. He had breathtaking talent and incredible strength - no bugger could get him off the ball. He could carry a whole team, Messi can't. Ronaldo nearly can.

The hand of God incident:

I was pissed off for many years over that, but I eventually re-evaluated

1. It is for the ref, linesmen to spot this sort of thing, not for sportsmen to 'own up'. Football has always had rubbish officiating - not enough people involved
   
2. Apparently it is in South American football culture to get away with what you can, can't blame him for that
3. Football is a sport that accepts cheating, sad but true. Most sports are honourable, but a player is encouraged to go down if 'touched' in the penalty area, or try and get another player sent off. World Football has never attempted to address cheating, it's a pretty shameful sport

Hattigol

Agreed @axisus ;

The Hand of God was 34 years ago. Plus his other goal deserved to win the match (and possibly even the tournament on its own).

Each to their own - I think it comes down to personal preference but for me, he was the GOAT.

Plus, let's be honest, it's fairly rare that you hear any of us Englishmen complaining that Geoff Hurst's goal shouldn't have stood when it probably didn't cross the line....

guitars4you

axisus said:

The greatest for me. He had breathtaking talent and incredible strength - no bugger could get him off the ball. He could carry a whole team, Messi can't. Ronaldo nearly can.

The hand of God incident:

I was pissed off for many years over that, but I eventually re-evaluated

1. It is for the ref, linesmen to spot this sort of thing, not for sportsmen to 'own up'. Football has always had rubbish officiating - not enough people involved
   
2. Apparently it is in South American football culture to get away with what you can, can't blame him for that
3. Football is a sport that accepts cheating, sad but true. Most sports are honourable, but a player is encouraged to go down if 'touched' in the penalty area, or try and get another player sent off. World Football has never attempted to address cheating, it's a pretty shameful sport

I think you have to accept the ref got it wrong and move on - However, FIFA after the game should have looked at it - Realised it was blatant cheating and banned him from the rest of the tournament - But it did not have the guts to take out the worlds greatest player in such a tournament

Wazmeister

Best player ever by a country mile...

EricTheWeary

guitars4you said:

axisus said:

The greatest for me. He had breathtaking talent and incredible strength - no bugger could get him off the ball. He could carry a whole team, Messi can't. Ronaldo nearly can.

The hand of God incident:

I was pissed off for many years over that, but I eventually re-evaluated

1. It is for the ref, linesmen to spot this sort of thing, not for sportsmen to 'own up'. Football has always had rubbish officiating - not enough people involved
   
2. Apparently it is in South American football culture to get away with what you can, can't blame him for that
3. Football is a sport that accepts cheating, sad but true. Most sports are honourable, but a player is encouraged to go down if 'touched' in the penalty area, or try and get another player sent off. World Football has never attempted to address cheating, it's a pretty shameful sport

I think you have to accept the ref got it wrong and move on - However, FIFA after the game should have looked at it - Realised it was blatant cheating and banned him from the rest of the tournament - But it did not have the guts to take out the worlds greatest player in such a tournament

Mix in that this was four years after the Falklands Conflict so a lot of people didn’t have good feelings towards the Argentinians at that point and had it been a player from almost any other country we’d have forgotten about it by now. It probably says much more about the British than it does about Maradona for whom it would have been just another day at the office. 

DB1

To be fair, I don't think it was all one way. Quote from Maradona:

"It was like beating a country, not a football team. Although we said before the game that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas War [the Argentinian name for the Falklands], we knew that a lot of Argentine kids had died there, that they had mowed us down like little birds," he wrote."This was our revenge, it was … recovering a part of the Malvinas. We all said beforehand that we shouldn't mix the two things but that was a lie".

Hattigol

DB1 said:

To be fair, I don't think it was all one way. Quote from Maradona:

"It was like beating a country, not a football team. Although we said before the game that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas War [the Argentinian name for the Falklands], we knew that a lot of Argentine kids had died there, that they had mowed us down like little birds," he wrote."This was our revenge, it was … recovering a part of the Malvinas. We all said beforehand that we shouldn't mix the two things but that was a lie".

It's bonkers when you think about it. Imagine a South American country owning Anglesey. Just weird. 

Creed_Clicks

guitars4you said:

axisus said:

The greatest for me. He had breathtaking talent and incredible strength - no bugger could get him off the ball. He could carry a whole team, Messi can't. Ronaldo nearly can.

The hand of God incident:

I was pissed off for many years over that, but I eventually re-evaluated

1. It is for the ref, linesmen to spot this sort of thing, not for sportsmen to 'own up'. Football has always had rubbish officiating - not enough people involved
   
2. Apparently it is in South American football culture to get away with what you can, can't blame him for that
3. Football is a sport that accepts cheating, sad but true. Most sports are honourable, but a player is encouraged to go down if 'touched' in the penalty area, or try and get another player sent off. World Football has never attempted to address cheating, it's a pretty shameful sport

I think you have to accept the ref got it wrong and move on - However, FIFA after the game should have looked at it - Realised it was blatant cheating and banned him from the rest of the tournament - But it did not have the guts to take out the worlds greatest player in such a tournament

Let's assume English players on the day were caught punching, elbowing, kicking, pulling shirts, diving etc on camera (let's not pretend that they weren't). Would or should they have been banned as well?
It was a refereeing f*ckup. Happened with Thierry Henry against Ireland as well.

EricTheWeary

DB1 said:

To be fair, I don't think it was all one way. Quote from Maradona:

"It was like beating a country, not a football team. Although we said before the game that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas War [the Argentinian name for the Falklands], we knew that a lot of Argentine kids had died there, that they had mowed us down like little birds," he wrote."This was our revenge, it was … recovering a part of the Malvinas. We all said beforehand that we shouldn't mix the two things but that was a lie".

At his funeral they were singing ‘if you don’t chant along you’re English.’ So, no not forgotten about! 

Bellycaster

One of the greatest, if not theeee greatest.

Almost got to play for Sheffield United as well, until the Chairman said that no 18 year old was worth the price they wanted for him. So, we got Alex Sabella instead.

usedtobe

Hand of god goal never really bothered me. Anyone who’s ever kicked a ball, has cheated. The other goal was just magical. What a player!