Like most superstars he is immediately identifiable.
Sadly one of the best two footballers ever to play the game today left the global pitch. Shockingly young it has to be said.
I suppose in that, his personal demons may have had something to do with it. But mercifully in the light of other recent deaths of former footballers it wasn’t dementia that took him.
His feats on the international stage are enough to put him on a pedestal, dragging Argentina to a World Cup win in 1986 almost (but not quite) on his own and to another final four years later, but it was his elevation of Napoli to the status of winners of Lo Scudetto in 1987 that is perhaps his greatest achievement. And then he did it with them again three years later. They haven’t touched those heights since.
In that 1986 World Cup there was the (in)famous Hand of God goal in the quarter-final against England – soon to be followed by the even more famous slalom through the whole England defence, one by one putting them on their backsides before planting the ball in the net. Even the English TV commentator Barry Davies was moved to remark, “You have to say that’s magnificent.”
But his performance in the semi-final against Belgium was better, a level of sustained excellence rarely seen before or since, perhaps even unequalled. I found this distillation of it (with a lot of repeat angles) on You Tube.
Diego Armando Maradona Franco: 30/10/1960 – 25/11/2020. So it goes.
FIFA World Cup, Final, Lusail Stadium, Doha, 18/12/22.
This certainly provided drama – but not until late in the second half.
In the first and most of the second France were pedestrian wheteher due to suffering from a virus or not, but more likely because Argentina were at them from the start. France barely had a kick in the first half. Then again Argentina were playing not only for themselves and their country but also for Lionel Messi.
Argentina’s penalty looked like one to me, Dembele clipped Di Maria not once but twice. Messi despatched it with ease.
The second goal was a thing of beauty. Messi’s pass to Alvarez delightful and Mac Allister sweeping on to supply Di Maria who scored with what football commentators sometimes call aplomb. The withdrawal of Di Maria changed the game a bit and Argentina began to look like they thought they’d won it.
Then came the real turning point, Otamendi’s failure to hit the ball into row Z leading to a clear penalty. Kylian Mbappe was not going to miss.
France now had their tails up and when Mbappe knocked down the cross a minute later, his marker failed to track him and Mbappe’s finish was brilliant.
Then Messi seemed to have won it for Argentina all over again after another sweeping move cut France open before we had the third penalty of the game and a hat-trick for Mbappe.
Loads of incident but all the tension packed into the last forty minutes of the contest, up to then Argentina were strolling it.
But that shows how a goal can change a game. This would most likely have fizzled out but for Otamendi’s mistake.
The result means no-one can now deny Messi’s footballing stature. He has won everything he could in the game and emulated Diego Maradona as a World Cup winner.
I’m sad to note the death of Paolo Rossi, who was in effect the prototypical Italian striker, arguably the best ever such.
There is an argument to be made about whether one man can be said to have won a World Cup for his country, the usual example given being Diego Maradona.
However it is almost certain that without Paolo Rossi, Italy would not have won the World Cup in 1982. His contribution to that success was profound – and indispensible.
He had only recently come back from a two year ban resulting from the Totonero betting scandal (in which he said he was unjustly implicated,) and had endured, as did his team-mates to be fair, a non-descript start to the 1982 tournament. But his hat-trick buried an extremely talented Brazil side in what was effectively a knock-out game in the second phase in one of the best-ever World Cup matches. Was there ever such a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles as in his third in that game?
Italy 3-2 Brazil:-
Rossi then scored the two goals which defeated Poland in the semi-final and set Italy on their way to the Cup with the first in the final against West Germany – a goal which he said most exemplified his style in anticipating where the ball would be before the defender could react in time.
Six goals, the Golden Boot, and Golden Ball for most valuable player, with the 1982 Ballon D’Or added in for good measure.
All six goals:-
In his career he had multiple Italian domestic trophies, and all but the EUFA Cup in European competition. One of the greats.
