Hand of God goal
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The Hand of God goal was scored by Diego Maradona in the quarter-final match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup between England and Argentina, played 22 June 1986 in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca.
Animosity between the two footballing nations can be traced back to the sending off of Argentine captain Antonio Ubaldo Rattin in the England-Argentina match of the 1966 World Cup. At the time, tensions were running particularly high, largely due to the recent Falklands War.
Six minutes into the second half there were still no goals. Diego Maradona took the ball down the pitch and crossed it to teammate Jorge Valdano, whose shot was blocked by defender Steve Hodge. English goalkeeper Peter Shilton came out of his goalmouth to catch or punch the ball, but Maradona (who was not off-side, because the ball was last touched by Hodge) reached it first — with his hand. The ball landed in the back of the net and, to the amazement of the English players, the referee (Tunisian Ali Bin Nasser) allowed the goal.
The Argentines celebrated (video shows Maradona looking at the referee with the corner of his eye) while the Englishmen protested to no avail. At the post-game press conference, Maradona further infuriated the English by claiming the goal was scored "a little bit by the Hand of God, another bit by the head of Maradona". Video and photographic evidence clearly demonstrated that he lifted his forearm to reach the ball before Shilton; TV networks all over the world showed it time and again.
In his 2002 autobiography, Maradona did admit that the ball came off his hand:
- Now I feel I am able to say what I couldn't then. At the time I called it "the hand of God". Bollocks was it the hand of God, it was the hand of Diego! And it felt a little bit like pickpocketing the English.
Later in the same match, Maradona scored another goal, regarded by many as the best goal in World Cup history, in which he eluded five English outfield players (Hoddle, Reid, Sansom, Butcher and Fenwick) as well as Shilton. In 2002, this goal was voted as the Goal of the Century. England would score once through Gary Lineker, and almost score again through the same player, but the disputed goal ultimately proved decisive, meaning England was knocked out of the competition. Argentina went on to win the World Cup.
For the next few days the English press referred to the incident as "The Hand of the Devil". Argus Software released a football simulation game for home computers entitled Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona. Maradona remained unpopular with the English press for many years and when he was later banned from football for drug use, the tabloid newspaper The Sun stated in a headline "Dirty Diego Gone For Good!".
After 1986, the next competitive meeting between the two sides was at the 1998 World Cup when Argentina would emerge triumphant on penalties after the game ended 2-2. It was most famous for the dismissal of David Beckham and the emergence of 18 year old striker Michael Owen, and some histrionic reactions from the Argentine players after their victory which upset the England squad more. The victory for England in the 2002 World Cup, especially as Argentina subsequently failed to qualify from the group, was seen in English quarters as part-revenge. Payback for the Hand of God goal was commemorated with T-shirts displaying the result and the phrase "Look no hands".
External links
- A photograph of the Hand of God in action (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/011221/4/44c.html)
- News article (http://www.sptimes.com/News/100899/Sports/_Hand_of_God__beats_B.shtml)
- Video of the Hand of God (http://members.home.nl/maradona10/17.mpg)de:Hand Gottes