I had to get my fitness and rhythm back. At the post-match press conference, Maradona said that the goal came from "the head of Maradona and the hand of God.". Maradona's pass was played slightly behind Valdano and reached England's Steve Hodge, the left midfielder who had dropped back to defend. Unlike previous World Cup competitions, Argentina had a strong squad and wouldn’t be solely reliant on the ageing Maradona.

The Argentine put out an adroit hand to push the ball into the goal, and got away with it too. I knew it was my hand. Never has a player’s greatness divided opinion; never has a player been worshipped and vilified in equal measure; never has a player dominated an entire World Cup tournament; and never has a player had such a lifelong impact on a young teenager in Yorkshire, sat at home watching an old black and white television. I managed to put the ball between Bobby Moore’s legs, pull off that dribble and find Pele. We were revolutionary because we played modern football – you didn’t see that back then. Argentina won the game 2–1 and went on to win the 1986 World Cup with a victory over West Germany in the final match. Italy were marking us individually and we didn’t have many chances. Two years later, the FIFA president acknowledged the potential for market profits by awarding the World Cup to the biggest capitalist nation on the planet. "Football has been my life and I wasn't crying because we got second place, but because of the way we lost. Rumours had already been rife about his associations with the mafia and his drug and alcohol abuse while in Naples. Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser claimed he did not see the offence and allowed the goal, although the English players strongly appealed for a handball. The feeling was anger, but not towards the athlete. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. The game started with both teams exchanging chances. I travelled across the world for surgery on my eye. That was just one of Rivellino’s qualities. This will allow you to make the most of your account with personalization. I was never more disconnected from football as I was between Italia 90 and USA 94. While my independence of club influence and biased nationalistic support is well documented throughout this story, looking back I was clearly a traditionalist. In the lead up to the first game, Maradona pulled out of the Argentine World Cup squad in February, citing too much pressure was being put on him and he couldn’t cope mentally with the expectation of the Argentine public. It was a really difficult game, very even. Following the game, Maradona stated: "Although we had said before the game that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas war, we knew they had killed a lot of Argentine boys there, killed them like little birds.
He didn’t have one defect. Then I had to convince the [ophthalmologists] to clear me to play. [5] Argentina began to dominate, with England's goalkeeper Peter Shilton saving several good chances, many created by Maradona. The second one was set up by a quick free-kick from Maradona.
Instead, I was happy in the knowledge that the only reason for watching USA 94 had just about guaranteed Argentina’s qualification into the knockout rounds. Six minutes into the second half, Maradona cut inside from the left and played a diagonal low pass to the edge of the area to teammate Jorge Valdano and continued his run in the hope of a one-two movement. But once we were in Mexico, I played well in a friendly and he told me I was going to be a No9, a striker. It is footage that has become as iconic as the Hand of God and the 10.80 seconds it took to score his second against England. The ball bounced into the goal. He had the nickname ‘Patada Atômica’ (Atomic Kick) – it was thunderous. He's one of the worst people I have known in my life.". Maradona left the field holding hands with a medical nurse who was responsible for taking the Argentine captain to the drug testing area. Maradona was the only fix that could see me through this state of flux and now I was going to have to deal with the withdrawal symptoms. Losing 5-0 to Colombia in Buenos Aires was a particular low-point in their campaign. On the hour mark the renaissance was complete. This feature is part of Diego Maradona: the World Cup diaries. The national side’s failure to progress under Graham Taylor was spectacularly documented in the Channel 4 documentary The Impossible Job, or more memorably ‘Do I Not Like That’. They lost their remaining group game 2-0 to Bulgaria before going out in the next round after losing 3-2 to Romania. England goalkeeper Peter Shilton came out of his goal to punch the ball clear. He wanted to make the Italian people happy.


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