Sunday, May 30, 2010

FIFA World Cup record of Argentina | “Hand of God” goal

diego-maradona-world-cup-winner
FIFA World Cup victories Winner :2 times (1978,1986)
Runners-Up: 2 times(1930,1990 )
Quarter-Final: 3 times(1966,1998,2006)
1st Round: 4 times(1934,1958,1962,2002)
2nd Round:3 times(1974,1982,1994)


World Cup in Mexico
1986

Nothing is best for Doego Maradona. After the frustration of 1982, El Diego dominated this tournament, winning the Golden Ball as best player and captaining Argentina to a second World Cup title. Mardona played every minute of every match, scoring five, assisting five and making himself inarguably the greatest player in the world. Not too shabby for the boy from Villa Fiorito.

Argentina topped Group A by beating South Korea 3-1, drawing 1-1 with Italy and beating Bulgaria 2-0. In the knockout round of 16 they beat Uruguay 1-0 and then faced old rivals England in the quarter-final. The game is famous for two very Maradona incidents.

First the infamous “Hand of God” goal

where little Diego beat Peter Shilton to a high ball by using his hand, later claiming “The goal was scored a little bit by the hand of God, a little by the head of Maradona.”

Yes, it was cheating. But even as an England fan, I have to admire the skill with which he pulled this off. There’s even a little nod of the head there to disguise it.

Maradona more than made up for that little bit of cheating by scoring arguably the greatest goal in World Cup history later in the same game:

El Diego picked the ball up in his own half, and dribbled past at least half the England team before sidestepping Peter Shilton and rolling home. Can’t argue with that.

Maradona scored another two as Argentina beat Belgium 2-0 in the semi-final, including this beauty:

Maradona didn’t score in the final, but was influential as Argentina beat West Germany 3-2 with goals from José Luis Brown, Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga: