Just about everyone who is familiar with the word football is familiar with the name Maradona. One of the reasons that he is the subject of this blog is because of the legendary status that his accomplishments have earned for his country. As its name suggests, “Hand of God” refers to a goal that Maradona scored during the quarterfinal encounter against England. In addition, it was scored by hand!
I must first provide some background information before moving on to describe the objective. Football was brought to Argentina by British expatriates, who also were the impetus behind the formation of the culture around football. During the quarterfinal rounds of the 1966 World Cup, England’s manager referred to Argentina as “animals” due to the excessive foul play and dramatic send-offs that occurred during those games. This was the beginning of their mutual animosity.
Moving away from the realm of football, the war in the Falkland Islands was fought between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
Islas Malvinas is the name that Argentina gives to the Falkland Islands, which are a small archipelago located in the South Atlantic Ocean. The Falkland Islands are administered by the United Kingdom as a British overseas possession. The invasion of the islands by Argentina’s military took place on April 2nd, 1982. Because the United Kingdom regarded this as an invasion of its territory, it dispatched a naval task force that successfully retook control of the Islands on June 14, 1982. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 258 British and 655 Argentines, despite the fact that the two countries were never officially at war with one another. Because of this, the match that took place four years after the conflict took place in an emotionally charged environment.
Maradona made the following statement after the game: “Although we had stated before the game that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas war, we knew that they had killed a lot of Argentine boys there, killed them like little birds.” This was a form of retribution. :Credit goes to Wikipedia.
In contrast to the second half of the contest, which Argentina won by a score of 2-1, the first half of the match was somewhat less exciting. Diego Maradona scored both of the three goals that were scored in the second half, which made for an extremely exciting second half.
During the 51st minute of the contest, Maradona, in his signature fashion, cut inside from the left flank and attempted to play one-two with his colleague Jorge Valdano. In its place, the ball landed at the feet of Steve Hodge, who was representing England. Hodge attempted to hook the ball away, but he failed to do so. In the direction of Maradona, the ball was released into the air and played into the penalty area. At the same time, England goalkeeper Peter Shilton was approaching the ball and attempting to punch it clear.
Despite the fact that Maradona was eight inches shorter than Shilton, he was able to reach the ball first. However, his reach was not with his head but rather with his left outer hand. The goal was permitted to be scored since the referee did not observe any violations. During the conference that followed the match, Maradona made the following statement: “I was waiting for my teammates to embrace me, and no one stepped forward… “Come hug me, or the referee isn’t going to allow it,” I urged them. “Thank you for stopping by.”
“During the press conference that took place after the game, Maradona made a humorous remark that the goal was scored “un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios” (which translates to “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”), which led to the goal being referred to as the “Hand of God” goal. As a result of the goal, the competition between the two countries in football became even more intense. According to Cesar Luis Menotti, “What they said was, ‘Great! The fact that the goal was so harsh and unjust was, in fact, a blessing in disguise, because it caused the English more pain. Wikipedia is a grateful source.
In addition, I have included other references that were taken from Wikipedia because I was interested in obtaining real references and quotes. I trust that the pristine nature of this illustrious objective has made its way to you unchanged. I am grateful to you!
