DIEGO MARADONA

DIEGO MARADONA

3. DIEGO MARADONA Argentina

He did not hit the heights of 1986 – how could he have? – but Maradona, despite the pain of an inflamed toe-nail, again dragged Argentina further than seemed possible after they had lost 1-0 to Cameroon in the tournament’s opening match.
He even got away with another handball (or a third, if you count the one that had mysteriously won Napoli a penalty in the UEFA Cup final earlier in the year), palming an Oleg Kuznetsov header off the line in the 2-0 win over USSR.
Maradona’s moment of the tournament came against Brazil in the second round. He had been sent off against Argentina’s biggest rivals in his first World Cup (1982), pushed beyond the limits of his temper by persistent fouling. This was the most glorious revenge.
Brazil had had much the better of 81 goalless minutes, but then Maradona picked up the ball just inside his own half, turned, jinked by two challenges and– for the first time – had some space. It was suddenly like Mexico again.
The Brazilians panicked to the extent that Ricardo Rocha and Ricardo Gomes ran into each other, and as Claudio Caniggia was left free, Maradona played him in with the perfect pass