Hero for many, villain for others, Maradona’s story leaves no one indifferent. Be that as it may, the reality is that he is one of the best players in history, regardless of whether someone is a follower of the Argentine national team or not.
We have already talked about Maradona’s historic rivalry with Pele, which, depending on who is asked, is above or below the fluff. What is clear is that both were decisive for their teams, both clubs, and national teams. We are going to focus now on Argentina, the national team that raised Maradona to Olympus in which its name is preserved.
Maradona as a Player
First of all, we want to emphasize that we will focus on the selection of Argentina in which he played as a Maradona player. He was also a coach, although for many fans, and possibly even for the Argentine Football Association, it is a time to forget even though he achieved the pass for the 2010 world championship.
Four World Cups saw Diego in the field. Starting with Spain 82 and ending in the United States 16 years later. Highlighting especially the performance of Argentina in the 1986 Soccer World Cup, where they beat Germany by 3 to 2 and were received on the way back as true heroes.
Even the president at the time received them in the official residence to congratulate them in person. The player’s performance was not without controversy, since in the quarterfinals he scored the remembered goal of “the hand of God”.
Argentina’s second World Cup team
In 86 Maradona did not play, as is evident. Although it is true that it was decisive for the achievement of the World Cup. The coach, Bilardo, knew how to lead a good team, but that depended on 10 throughout the tournament.
Well organized in all the lines, the goalkeeper who was under the sticks was Nery Pumpido, who replaced the goalkeeper in the championship who was defending the goal in the qualifiers. Throughout the championship the goal only saw the ball enter 5 times, 2 of them in the final.
Also Read: What was Pelé’s Brazil like?
In the final, Maradona did not score any goals. It seems that with the 2 that endorsed England it was enough. Instead, 3 different players were the architects of taking the cup. First Brown and then Valdano, another illustrious name of Argentine soccer, seemed to sentence until Germany was recomposed and came to tie. At that time, Maradona made his own, got rid of all the rivals around him and passed the ball to Burruchaga, who scored and achieved the final 3 to 2.
Therefore, it must be said that Maradona’s Argentina was a good team, but that if he had not had the genius of this player, he might not be remembered by this feat.
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