BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Diego Maradona, the soccer nice from Argentina who scored the “Hand of God” purpose in 1986 and led his nation to that yr’s World Cup title earlier than later fighting cocaine use and weight problems, has died. He was 60.
Maradona’s spokesman, Sebastián Sanchi, stated he died Wednesday of a coronary heart assault, two weeks after being launched from a hospital in Buenos Aires after mind surgical procedure.
The workplace of Argentina’s president stated it would decree three days of nationwide mourning, and the Argentine soccer affiliation expressed its sorrow on Twitter.
Probably the most well-known moments within the historical past of the game, the “Hand of God” purpose, got here when the diminutive Maradona punched the ball into England’s web through the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals. England stated the ball went in off Maradona’s hand, not his head. Maradona himself gave conflicting accounts of what had occurred through the years, at one level attributing the purpose to divine intervention, to “the hand of God.”
Forward of his sixtieth birthday in October, Maradona instructed France Soccer journal that it was his dream to “rating one other purpose in opposition to the English, this time with the best hand.”
Maradona additionally captivated followers all over the world throughout a two-decade profession with a bewitching model of play all his personal.
Though his repute was tarnished by his addictions and an ill-fated spell answerable for the nationwide group, he remained idolized in soccer-mad Argentina because the “Pibe de Oro” or “Golden Boy.”
“You took us to the highest of the world,” President Alfredo Fernández stated on social media. “You made us extremely completely satisfied. You have been the best of all.”
The No. 10 he wore on his jersey grew to become synonymous with him, because it additionally had with Pelé, the Brazilian nice with whom Maradona was repeatedly paired as the perfect of all time. In an announcement launched Wednesday, the 80-year-old Brazilian stated he had misplaced “an expensive pal.”
“There’s rather more to say, however for now might God give his household energy,” Pelé stated. “At some point, I hope, we are going to play soccer collectively within the sky.”
Daring, quick and completely unpredictable, Maradona was a grasp of assault, juggling the ball simply from one foot to the opposite as he raced upfield. Dodging and weaving together with his low heart of gravity, he shrugged off numerous rivals and infrequently scored with a devastating left foot, his strongest weapon.
“Every thing he was considering in his head, he made it occur together with his ft,” stated Salvatore Bagni, who performed with Maradona at Italian membership Napoli.
A ballooning waistline slowed Maradona’s explosive velocity later in his profession, and by 1991 he was snared in his first doping scandal when he admitted to a cocaine behavior that haunted him till he retired in 1997, at 37.
Hospitalized close to demise in 2000 and once more in 2004 for coronary heart issues blamed on cocaine, he later stated he overcame the drug downside. Cocaine, he as soon as stated famously, had confirmed to be his “hardest rival.”
Extra well being issues adopted regardless of a 2005 gastric bypass that drastically trimmed his weight. Maradona was hospitalized in early 2007 for acute hepatitis his physician blamed on extreme ingesting and consuming.
He made an unlikely return to Argentina’s nationwide group in 2008, when he was appointed coach, however after a quarterfinal exit on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he was ousted, in the end selecting up one other teaching job with the United Arab Emirates membership Al Wasl.
Maradona was the fifth of eight youngsters who grew up in a poor, gritty neighborhood on the Buenos Aires outskirts, the place he performed a type of dirt-patch soccer that launched many Argentines to worldwide stardom.
None of them approached Maradona’s fame. In 2001, FIFA named Maradona one of many two biggest within the sport’s historical past, alongside Pelé.
“Maradona evokes us,” Argentina striker Carlos Tevez stated on the 2006 World Cup in Germany. “He is our idol, and an idol for the individuals.”
Maradona reaped titles at house and overseas, enjoying within the early Nineteen Eighties for Argentinos Juniors and Boca Juniors earlier than transferring on to Spanish and Italian golf equipment. His crowning achievement got here on the 1986 World Cup, the place he captained Argentina in its 3-2 win over West Germany within the ultimate and was decisive in a 2-1 victory in opposition to England in a feisty quarterfinal.
Over the protests of England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, the referee let stand a purpose by Maradona by which, as he admitted years later, he deliberately hit the ball together with his hand in “a little bit of mischief.”
Maradona’s influence on the match wasn’t confined to dishonest. 4 minutes later, he spectacularly weaved previous 4 opponents from midfield to beat Shilton for what FIFA later declared the best purpose in World Cup historical past.
Many Argentines noticed the match as revenge for his or her nation’s loss to Britain within the 1982 struggle over the Falkland Islands, which Argentines nonetheless declare as “Las Malvinas.”
“It was our manner of recovering ‘Las Malvinas,'” Maradona wrote in his 2000 autobiography “I’m Diego.”
“It was greater than making an attempt to win a sport. We stated the sport had nothing to do with the struggle. However we knew that Argentines had died there, that they’d killed them like birds. And this was our revenge. It was one thing larger than us: We have been defending our flag.”
It additionally was vindication for Maradona, who in what he later referred to as “the best tragedy” of his profession was minimize from the squad of the 1978 World Cup — which Argentina gained at house — as a result of he was solely 17.
Maradona stated he was given a soccer ball quickly after he might run.
“I used to be 3 years outdated, and I slept hugging that ball all night time,” he stated.
At 10, Maradona gained fame by acting at halftime {of professional} matches, wowing crowds by holding the ball airborne for minutes together with his ft, chest and head. He additionally made his enjoying debut with the Argentinos Juniors youth group, main a squad of largely 14-year-olds by 136 unbeaten matches.
“To see him play was pure bliss, true stardom,” teammate Carlos Beltran stated.
Maradona performed from 1976 to 1981 for first-division membership Argentinos Juniors, then went to Boca Juniors for a yr earlier than heading to Barcelona for a world-record $8 million.
In 1984, Barcelona offered his proper to Napoli, in Italy. He remade its fortunes nearly single-handedly, taking it to the 1987 Italian league championship for its first title in 60 years.
A yr after shedding the 1990 World Cup ultimate to West Germany, Maradona moved to Spanish membership Sevilla, however his profession was on the decline. He performed 5 matches at Argentine membership Newell’s Previous Boys in 1994 earlier than returning for 3 years (1995-97) to Boca — his ultimate membership and the one closest to his coronary heart.
Drug issues overshadowed his ultimate enjoying years.
Maradona failed a doping check in 1991 and was banned for 15 months, acknowledging his longtime cocaine dependancy. He failed one other doping check for stimulants and was thrown out of the 1994 World Cup in the USA.
In retirement, Maradona frequented Boca matches as a raucous one-man cheering part and took half in worldwide charity, sporting and exhibition occasions. The already stocky ahead shortly gained weight, nevertheless, and was clearly wanting breath as he huffed by pleasant matches.
In 2000, in what docs stated was a brush with demise, he was hospitalized within the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este with a coronary heart pumping at lower than half its capability, docs stated. Blood and urine samples turned up traces of cocaine.
After one other emergency hospitalization in 2004, Maradona was recommended for drug abuse and in September of that yr traveled to Cuba for therapy at Havana’s Middle for Psychological Well being. There he was visited by his pal, Cuban President Fidel Castro.
In Cuba, Maradona took to enjoying golf and smoking cigars. He steadily praised Castro and Argentine-born revolutionary “Che” Guevara, who fought with Castro within the Cuban revolution, even sporting a tattoo of Guevara on his proper arm.
Maradona stated he obtained clear from medication there and began a brand new chapter.
In 2005, he underwent gastric bypass in Colombia, shedding greater than 100 kilos earlier than showing as host of a wildly fashionable Argentine tv speak present. On “10’s Night time,” Maradona headed round a ball with Pelé, interviewed boxer Mike Tyson and Hollywood celebrities and taped a prolonged dialog with Castro in Cuba.
In retirement, Maradona additionally grew to become extra outspoken. He sniped steadily at former coaches, gamers — together with Pelé — and the pope. He joined a left-wing protest practice outdoors the Summit of the Americas in 2005, standing alongside Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to denounce the presence of George W. Bush, on the time president of the USA.
His outsider standing made it all of the extra shocking when he was chosen as Argentina’s coach after Alfio Basile’s resignation. Maradona gained the primary three matches of his tenure, however his techniques, choice and a focus to element have been all questioned after a 6-1 loss to Bolivia in World Cup qualifying equaled Argentina’s worst margin of defeat.
Victor Hugo Morales, Argentina’s hottest soccer broadcaster, stated Maradona will in the end be remembered for an exciting model of play that has by no means been duplicated.
“He has been one of many nice artists of my time. Like nice masters of music and portray, he has defied our mind and enriched the human spirit,” Morales stated. “No one has thrilled me extra and left me in such awe as Diego.”
