MARADONA: CARRIED by ANGELS
The Exquisite Genius of the Greatest Ever Footballer
World Cup Second Round: 24th June 1990:
Throughout, Diego Maradona was like a ghost at his own funeral, desperate to help ease the torment of his loved ones but utterly helpless to do so. As the battle raged and Brazil caressed the ball to each other, ripping through Argentina with effortless aplomb, he was simply invisible. Even the Brazilian fans lost the urge to boo, such was Maradona's apparent utter inability to hurt them.
At 0-0 with both sets of supporters stricken by the unbearable tension prevalent in the stadium, a late goal for either team could well have proved fatal to those with weak hearts. So often games between these eternal rivals were decided by moments of individual genius. As the clock ticked down to extra time penalties came increasingly into view.
With eight minutes left Diego Maradona received the ball in the centre-circle, turned and then accelerated at great pace through a host of yellow shirts. A momentary shudder rocked the Stadio Delle Alpi. A revitalised Maradona was clear and the years fell away. Fear gripped Brazilian souls, their worse nightmare realised.
He was back!
They slashed and hacked in desperate pursuit but an unerring ability to ride the most ferocious of challenges enabled him to keep possession. As if carried by angels Diego Maradona soared past three more defenders before laying off an exquisite pass for the unmarked Claudio Caniggia.
Concentrating solely on Maradona the Brazilians totally forgot about the Argentinian winger and with space inside the penalty area to pick his spot Caniggia struck a superb drive past Taffarel into the top corner. Arms outstretched he raced over to the corner flag to be mobbed by ecstatic teammates. As for Maradona, he dropped to his knees, gave thanks to God and appeared a man reborn.
The magic remained, albeit spasmodically,
but still enough to take your breath away.
Published by johnludden.webs.com:
Welcome to Red star publishing: the home for SNAPSHOT: Written in short and punchy styles these articles tell of the history of football. the good the great, the tragic and the downright scandalous. Fo... View profile
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1 Comments
Post a CommentJohn, good article, but... let me inform you that on this very same game, maradona gave Branco - the best brazilian defender, the one specificall marking him, a bottle with water contamined with sleep medicine. This was admited publicly by maradona on TV about two years ago.That game, you wrote about was absolutely dominated by Brazil, and yes the "genius" used his brain to cheat his way thru a bunch of yellow jerseys.