Diego Armando Maradona (1960-2020)

[DLD]

Diego Maradona passed away yesterday at the age of 60. Back in the 1980's, not only was he considered the greatest soccer player on the planet, he was probably the most famous person on the planet as well. On the field, he exhibited flair and charisma. Off the field, he was known for his hijnks, drug addiction, weight gain and friendships with most nefarious personalities.

He almost made the 1978 Argentina WC winning squad at 17, was a starlet in 1982, almost single handedly brought Argentina the 1986 title, then again brought the team into the final in 1990. Then in the US 1994, his ugly side popped up again and he was banned from the tournament for taking the PED's. That destroyed team's spirits and the were knocked out by Romania.

In Argentina, he was an idol, their version of Babe Ruth. Except the Babe never suited up in the national colors. The nation has declared three days of mourning, as the last respects will be paid at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires.

This was Maradona's most famous goal. Unless you count the Hand of G-d a few minutes earlier.

1986 World Cup quarterfinal. Argentina vs. England. Great play-by-play call too.

 

[DLD]

As I had mentioned, a few minutes before the "goal of the century", Maradona used his fist to punch the ball into the net over the onrushing England goalkeeper Peter Shilton. The announcer is clueless, believing the English defenders are claiming the offside, which it could not be called since an English player Steve Hodge kicks it toward an own net. When asked to explain his cheating, Maradona famously said, "It was a hand of G-d".

PS. The English translation of the goal call in the previous post -

Maradona has the ball, two mark him, he touches the ball. The genius of world football dashes to the right and leaves the third and is going to pass to Burruchaga. It’s still Maradona! Genius! Genius! Genius! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta. Gooooooooooal! Gooooooooooal! I want to cry! Dear God! Long live football! Gooooooooooal! Diegoal! Maradona! It’s enough to make you cry, forgive me. Maradona, in an unforgettable run, in the play of all time. Cosmic kite! What planet are you from? Leaving in your wake so many Englishmen, so that the whole country is a clenched fist shouting for Argentina? Argentina 2, England 0. Diegoal, Diegoal, Diego Armando Maradona. Thank you, God, for football, for Maradona, for these tears, for this, Argentina 2, England 0.”

 

[DLD]

People lined up for miles in Buenos Aires to pay their final respects. Naturally, a riot broke out. Naturally, very few were wearing masks.

 

[puredrifting]

Thank you for educating me, I've seen his name popping up all over the web and I don't follow any organized sports so I wasn't motivated enough to research who the guy was.
Now I know, huge football star. Makes sense.

 

[DLD]

The global sports scene is different than the American one. In the US, if you're a Pats fan, you love Tom Brady. But, if you're a Bills, Jets, Dolphins, Steelers, Ravens fan, you hate Tom Brady. And there are a lot more fans that follow teams other than the Pats. And it's the same in baseball or the NBA.

Across the world, the league play is as important but the national teams steal the spotlight during the World Cups, Euros, Copa America, etc. The national teams may still be All-Star selections but there's no wink-wink All-Star defense. Major tournaments are a matter of tremendous national pride and its top stars become national heroes. Maradona's two goals against England in the 1986 WC were even more than that due to the Falkland War between the two nations.

The Brits themselves aren't void of the same feelings. When the English team beat West Germany in the 1966 WC final for their sole major title to date, the most memorable English tabloid headline was, "Two World Wars and one World Cup". When the Netherlands finally beat West Germany in the 1988 Euros, the headline was, "We finally got our bicycles back", referring to the German occupation of the Netherlands during WWII and the "requisition" of privately owned bikes by the German troops. In other words, the debt was finally paid. Forty Four years later.

And Honduras and El Salvador went to war over a soccer match. Sort of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War

 

[DLD]

Maradona's career and a premature death are, sadly, not precedent setting. Brazilian Manuel Francisco dos Santos, known simply as Garrincha (Little Bird), was there before him. How good of a player was Garrincha? The Brazilian saying was, "Pele was the greatest player of all time ... but Garrincha was better".

And his story was even more bewildering. For starters, Garrincha was born with a physical deformity. As an adult, his right leg was more than two inches shorter than his left. Furthermore, one of them was turned inwards and another outwards. Doctors thought it was a miracle than he would even walk.

Moreover, he was not well psychologically. In his own autobiography, he claimed to have lost his virginity to a goat. And he was an alcoholic on top of that, Prior to the 1958 World Cup, Brazil administered mental tests to its players. Pele was pronounced immature (he was 17 at the time). Garrincha, at 23, was pronounced insane. Both made the team.

Both became legends. Garrincha grew up destitute and often had to play without shoes. In 1953, he was offered a tryout by a club in his home town of Rio de Janeiro. But the team wouldn't pay for his bus ticket, so he didn't go. Botafogo, one of the biggest clubs in Brazil, finally extended him a similar offer but with the bus ticket included. Garrincha showed at the club training ground and was given football shoes and workout apparel. Then the head coach pointed at another player warming up and told Garrincha to see if he can dribble around him. The player in question was a left back, representing a natural opponent to Garincha, who was a right wing/forward. What was completely unknown to the 19-year old prospect was that the left back was none other than Botafogo's and Brazil's captain Nilton Santos, arguably the best left back in the world at that time. The attacker was given the ball and easily dribbled past Santos. They reset the play and Garrincha blew by Santos again. After the third one-on-one that ended the same way the first two, the captain walked over to the coach and said, "I think you better sign this kid because I prefer to look like an idiot in training rather than in a real match".

With both Pele and Garrincha on the pitch at the same time, Brazil had never lost a single match, winning the 1958 World Cup. In 1962 WC, Pele was injured in opening matches and Garrincha was moved to a central striker position, helping Brazil win another title and being named the Player of the Tournament.

But there were too many temptations to resist and Mane Garrincha pretty much succumbed to them all, dying in 1983 at the age of 49.

 

[ade4all]

The greatest football player (sorry DLD) of my childhood, possibly of all time - Lionel Messi the only one to compare in my lifetime - interesting that they are both short of stature, predominantly left footed and of course Argentinian.
I'm English but can only marvel at that 2nd goal he scored against us at the Mexico World Cup. Genius.
This is a great documentary about him, you don't need to be a football fan to enjoy it (from the same film making team as Senna and Amy)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5433114/

 

[DLD]

The greatest football player (sorry DLD) ...

It's referred to as soccer in the US, Canada, Australia and Jamaica, all of which have other "footballs". Say "football" and the Americans will be thinking the pointy ball.

My favorite player growing up was Gerd "Der Bomber" Müller, who could "turn inside four men in a phone booth". So, from over 50 years of watching the jogo bonito, I'd clearly rank Messi as having the greatest career, though Ronaldo (the Brazilian, not the Portuguese) was probably more dominating before his performances were negatively effected by knee injuries and, later, weight gain.

 

[DLD]

So, in a turn of events reminiscent of Michael Jackson's death, the Buenos Aires police is investigating Maradona's doctor for possible manslaughter.

In another odd coincident, the doctor's name is Leopold Luque, which is the same as of a star Argentine striker from the 1978 team, the one who (could have) kept the 17-year old Maradona from being on that roster.

 

[CharlesPapert]

I did Steadicam for the '94 World Cup in Boston, including the Argentina/Greece game with Maradona (the legendary shot of him running straight towards the camera like a wild man was from that game, sadly not my camera though!). I'd like to say that I was aware of the place that would land in history, but mostly at the time I was consumed with running my ass off up and down the pitch with a rig probably twice the weight of what a broadcast operator would be carrying today, plus wrestling with the bulky triax cable, and it was a hotter than hell summer to boot.

 

[DLD]

And so folks know what Charles is talking about.

And to add more, the 1994 was a really hot WC in terms of the weather. Bulgaria-Nigeria at the Cotton Bowl hit well over 100F on the pitch. Sweden-Russia was held at the Silverdome. Not only was it hot outside, the stadium itself had no air conditioning since it had been mostly used to stage the Detroit Lions games. (Plus, the field was not up to FIFA regulation, being slightly too narrow, and it had sod laid on top of the old Astroturf, losing chunks after chunks)

 

[DLD]

Another soccer legend passes away. Paolo Rossi, who led Italy to the World Cup title in 1982, dies at 64. Rossi had an odd career, marred by a two year suspension from a bribery scandal. However, he was reinstated just prior to the 1982 WC. Having began slowly and going scoreless for the opening four matches, Rossi became an Italian hero by scoring six straight goals - three against Brazil, two against Poland and one against West Germany - for which he was rewarded by being named the Player of the Tournament. No cause of death was given, except "long illness".

 

[DLD]

I hope Maradona and Rossi don't mind me making another soccer post.

Setting : Schalke's Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Schalke is one of the three-four big clubs in Germany but is having a super lousy season. It's on its fourth coach in 2020-21 and is stuck to the bottom of the table, having not won in 28 matches, one short of the all time Bundesliga record. In other words, they suck. They suck badly. The team has some talent but they still suck. They signed several young American players but had to loan the best American Weston McKinnie to the reigning Italian champion Juventus (the one with Christiano Ronaldo). McKinnie is having an excellent year and will be sold for a tidy sum. The only other remaining American on Schalke's books is a 19-year old kid from California named Matthew Hoppe. Hoppe got out a few run-outs this season but is scoreless.

Club's fourth gaffer this season is one Christian Gross, a 66-year old Swiss with some success on his resume but someone who had been in Africa and the Middle East for most of the last decade. In the US sports equivalency, he'd be a former Big 10 coach, who's been also fired from jobs at Lafayette State and Akron. But Schalke is knee deep in crap, so they turned to Gross.

This morning, in front of empty seats, Schalke is hosting Hoffenheim, the most hated club in Germany outside of RB Leipzig and Schalke itself. Hoffenheim is hated because it was in a suburban beer league until "purchased" by one of its fans. But it's good to have fans like Dietmar Hopp, one of the founders of SAP and someone whose current worth is estimated at $18 Billion. Hopp grew up in the village of Hoffenheim and decided to spend a few of his bucks to turn his pub club into a major team. It's seen ups and downs since his reign but does have quite a bit of talent.

And so it is - Hoffenheim @ Schalke. Matthew Hoppe gets a start ... and proceeds to demolish Hoffenheim. One, two, three. In other words, a 19-year old Californian in his first season in professional sports scores a hat-trick against a decent quality opposition in one of the top four leagues in the world. Schalke's winless streak is over, they're off the bottom of the table and Matthew Hoppe is a 19-year old legend.

Never has an American scored a hat-trick in the Bundesliga. Landon Donovan, who was a fake face of American soccer in the 00's spent nearly two years in Germany and never scored. This kid comes out of nowhere with a hat-trick. Furthermore, his goals were great too. Unbelievable. I can't believe what I just saw. In the year of the improbable, the impossible had happened. The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant. And so on and so forth.

 

[DLD]

Oh, what the heck. Two more matches, two more goals for Hoppe. Schalke, however, lost both matches and is back in last place, with an 8 point gap from the relegation playoff spot currently occupied by another formerly big club in Köln.

Fortunately for Hoppe, he's out of contract at the end of the 2020-2021 season and will be pursued by some big clubs, far above Schalke's budget range.

 

[DLD]

Schalke got destroyed 0:4 by Bayern and looked like crap. Bayern is a European club champion.

But here's an odd soccer story of the day. Arsenal just released a formerly great midfielder - an 2014 World Champion with Germany and someone who also started with his home town Schalke - Mesut Özil, who promptly signed with a Turkish club Fenerbahçe. Özil is Turkish, so that's not the crazy part. He was making ~ $25 M/Y with Arsenal but Fenerbahçe is already $630M in debt. The player agreed to take a huge pay cut but is still making about $5M/Y. So his new club is passing the hat around by asking their fans to donate ~ $3 each via a text message to the club.

 

[DLD]

So, since this thread has become a soccer potpourri.

The big news in the world of soccer is that twelve "super-rich" clubs intend to form an own European Super League in a mode similar to the NFL (but no draft and unlikely any salary cap). Several of them are owned by Americans (Arsenal by Stan Kroenke, Liverpool by the Fenway Group of John Henry and Tom Werner, Manchester United by the Glazers, Juventus by the Agnelli/Elkann family) others by the super wealthy international investors. They feel constrained by the current formats, both domestically and internationally, where they have to compete and share revenues with smaller, less financially viable, clubs.

The Union of the European Football Associations (UEFA) is vehemently against this and are threatening to expel not only clubs but their players from any and all international competitions. That should come as no surprise, as UEFA is precisely the reason the big clubs are staging a walkout. Likewise, FIFA (the global organization that "manages" soccer and stages World Cups) is threatening to expel every player on those breakaway teams from their tournaments.

Most fans and pundits are aggrieved as well. Pundits generally work for the current broadcasting right holders and are lightning fast to defend the status quo. Fans are just mad because they feel they are entitled to be such.

PS. Of course, in the US, there have been precedents of the Indy Racing split, and in competing leagues with the NFL/AFL, NHL/WHA, NBA/ABA, etc.

 

[ade4all]

Looks like Chelsea and Man City are pulling out which is great news, hopefully the whole thing will collapse - was a horrible idea based purely on greed

 

[DLD]

Looks like Chelsea and Man City are pulling out which is great news, hopefully the whole thing will collapse - was a horrible idea based purely on greed

Greed is good.

Or, as Lily Tomlin famously said, "This isn't show art but show business".

 

[Jim Feeley]

Shaka Hislop has some good things to say about the Super League. But first, he talks a bit about UEFA...

Three minutes.

Rundown (copied from the YT page):

Amid the fallout from Sunday's announcement of a Super League, ESPN FC's Shaka Hislop addresses UEFA's rapid response compared to its actions against racism in football.

0:00​ Hislop applauds UEFA's response to the Super League clubs, but points out the swift reaction was to something that directly affected their power structure.
1:18​ Following the racial abuse of Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara, Hislop wants to know where UEFA's backbone is on addressing racism in the sport.
1:45​ On the creation of the Super League, Hislop says the actions of the 12 participating clubs are a slap in the face to everyone who has contributed to the growth of football for 150 years, especially the players and fans.

 

[Liam Hall]

So, since this thread has become a soccer potpourri.

The big news in the world of soccer is that twelve "super-rich" clubs intend to form an own European Super League in a mode similar to the NFL (but no draft and unlikely any salary cap). Several of them are owned by Americans (Arsenal by Stan Kroenke, Liverpool by the Fenway Group of John Henry and Tom Werner, Manchester United by the Glazers, Juventus by the Agnelli/Elkann family) others by the super wealthy international investors. They feel constrained by the current formats, both domestically and internationally, where they have to compete and share revenues with smaller, less financially viable, clubs.

The Union of the European Football Associations (UEFA) is vehemently against this and are threatening to expel not only clubs but their players from any and all international competitions. That should come as no surprise, as UEFA is precisely the reason the big clubs are staging a walkout. Likewise, FIFA (the global organization that "manages" soccer and stages World Cups) is threatening to expel every player on those breakaway teams from their tournaments.

Most fans and pundits are aggrieved as well. Pundits generally work for the current broadcasting right holders and are lightning fast to defend the status quo. Fans are just mad because they feel they are entitled to be such.

PS. Of course, in the US, there have been precedents of the Indy Racing split, and in competing leagues with the NFL/AFL, NHL/WHA, NBA/ABA, etc.

The American owners have been handed their ass. No one wanted this except for the owners. It was nothing more than a power grab. Absolute disgrace to try and take advantage of the pandemic like this. They were rightly called out by everyone. Players called them out, managers called them out, fans, politicians, even senior royals called them out. Never have I seen so many people united in their condemnation of these grubby billionaires. There is a lot wrong with professional football but it’s good to know sporting integrity still means something to so many people.