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Diego Maradona has died

theguardian.com

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Re: Diego Maradona has died

#221

Post by fishtacos »

zuppy wrote: post #191
fishtacos wrote: post #43

This is sad. Maradona was a distinct part of my childhood growing up in Eastern Europe where soccer heroes were practically worshipped. Following Pelé, of course. A trip down memory lane... RiP. His best goals (according to YT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XegYZ8y3xMY&ab_channel=FIFAT...

I remember the Cincin bubble gum surprises with Maradona, Van Basten, Gullit https://colectionaruldesurprize.wordpress.com/03-cincin/ Everybody was collecting them. What a shame he wasted such an amazing talent with drugs. I’m a little sad that one of my childhood heroes is gone. Hasta siempre, Diego Armando Maradona!

My collectables were action hero cards (Van Damme doing splits, Schwarzenegger in Predator, Rocky flexing, etc) we got through random gum packages or some other little candy packing (I was maybe 9-10 in early 90s when this was popular, so not super sure). We traded and collected and I'm pretty sure I have the whole 50 cards or so still in a little baggie somewhere in storage.

I also remember Cincin... so perhaps that was where I got them too. Cheers! (from a transplant from Albania)

EDIT: Looking at those series of pics you linked to, I can say I do remember them. My friends collected them. It was the biggest thing happening in our lives.

Re: Diego Maradona has died

#222

Post by gerdesj »

patrickk wrote: post #188
cm2012 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone explain to a soccer novice why this goal is special? It looks similar to lots of others to my untrained eye.

If you ran for a few meters and tried to control a ball at your feet, you'd understand somewhat. Even that is extremely difficult to do well- shifting the ball and keeping it under control of your feet and away from defenders. Now try to imagine people trying to hack you down (totally normal defending back then) and tugging your shirt, in the blazing heat, at altitude, against a team that humiliated your country in a…

Nicely put me old fruit. Sadly we have managed to make a habit of that. For example the "death of English cricket" - https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23241494 is why the Ashes exist.

Soccer is not grid iron, nor is it rugby but back in the day, defence could be quite a bit more robust than it is now. Footie players are not built like the second row and if you happen to apply six studs (cleats I think for the left pondians) at speed to the side of someone's knee then it will not end well.

If you look carefully, you will notice that Maradona doesn't simply whizz around defenders: he completely humiliates our boys by finding space and making the ball go there with him. The bloody thing is attached to his toe when he needs it to be so and then he simply flicks it into the net, almost as an afterthought. He barely looks at it - he know where it is because he has told it to be there.

Genius.

Re: Diego Maradona has died

#224

Post by zekrioca »

pyman wrote: post #197
zekrioca wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You clearly lack the political context of England/UK and Argentina, and what that goal represented to Argentinians. With or without coke, that was a moment of liberation, and he alone carried the Argentinean team on his shoulders in 1986 when they won the World Cup. One needs more than coke to do what he did in 1986. One needs to be extraordinarily gifted, only for the likes of Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Garrincha, M…

It was more a feeling of revenge than liberation. In 1982 my family and the entire country was at war with an Argentinean dictator, when suddenly Margaret Tatcher, an unpopular Prime Minister at that time, instead of de-escalating the situation with the Argentine dictator decided to go to war with a country that was already at war and fighting for democracy. For that reason, Argentine people felt betrayed by England.…

Sim hermano. When I mentioned “liberation” I meant the psychological catarse of the moment those 2 goals must have inflicted and meant to the Argentinean people. I totally understand how Tatcher used this war (as it is common to Great Britain) to pump popularity up when neo-liberalism was not really working. UK military killed some ~1500 Argentineans to achieve so. And while they thought they were the smartest, Maradona showed them otherwise.

Re: Diego Maradona has died

#225

Post by cambalache »

usaphp wrote: post #216
cambalache wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One was against Getafe in almost-meaningless copa del rey game, the other was against England in a Quarter final game in the WC. Night and day.

I think he is comparing the technical difficulty of a goal, not the context when it was scored.

I dont know if you have played football or are a fan, but the context is a great part of the difficulty of a goal, not only were his opponents better the stakes were sky-high. Players who regularly score in a normal game freeze when the do-or-die time comes. For all his brilliance Messi has never scored a goal in a decisive game in a WC, Maradona scored 4 in 2 games in 1986.

Re: Diego Maradona has died

#226

Post by sien »

mongol wrote: post #95
arrosenberg wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lionel Messi, same goal, 2004 (or thereabouts) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAehMNYw0ig

Amazingly similar. I think it is better. Notice how the player that chases him does not slow the pace, but pushes on until he makes a failed attempt to break the play. Speed seems faster too. A good illustration of evolution of the game. Of course, we don't know if Maradona would still have scored with more effort from the English defense, maybe he would. In any case, two great goals.

That England team was unlucky not to win something. They were very good. They lost to two eventual WC winners in a row in 1986 and 1990.

They were the #1 ranked ELO team for a while in the late 1980s :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Football_Elo_Ratings#Lis...

Just as a note, I'm not English nor do I have English heritage and don't 'support' England.

Re: Diego Maradona has died

#228

Post by yiyus »

arrosenberg wrote: post #83
mongol wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This goal was incredible, but with many years passed, it has faded in significance for me. Not sure why, if it is because the game has evolved, or I have seen many other great goals, or something else. But probably because I think the defense was too passive. This goal would not be done today, most probably.

Lionel Messi, same goal, 2004 (or thereabouts) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAehMNYw0ig

> same goal

Scoring against Getafe is not comparable to scoring against England in a world cup, specially when it is Argentina against England (in a game England invented) only a few years against the Falklands war. It's a great goal by Messi, but Maradona's goal has a place in history books.

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