RIP Diego Maradona

[mall3013]

Sad day for the soccer world. Arguably one of if not greatest footballers to ever live. Only 60 years of age. I guess the drugs and alcohol caught up with him. I remember watching him play during that 1986 world cup for the Argentine National Team. The dude was untouchable. He and Pele made soccer fun to watch, at least for me.

 

[Sir Robin Of Camelot]

Sad day for the soccer world. Arguably one of if not greatest footballers to ever live. Only 60 years of age. I guess the drugs and alcohol caught up with him. I remember watching him play during that 1986 world cup for the Argentine National Team. The dude was untouchable. He and Pele made soccer fun to watch, at least for me.

That’s a HARD 60 right there...

 

[Hank Kingsley]

That’s a HARD 60 right there...

Bingo. And he was chubby.

One of his greatest "plays" wasn't so great, his Hand of God...

 

[mall3013]

That’s a HARD 60 right there...

Agree. I watched a documentary on Netflix recently about his personal life and career. Like you said that was a hard 60.

 

[gohusk]

It was crazy watching him in 86. He was just significantly better than everybody else out there. Died on the same calendar date as Best only a year older. Seems like those two had the same outlook on soccer and life.

 

[Janus]

The dude was untouchable.

But for him his hands were all over it, especially that final

 

[Janus]

Maradona had a lot of help, I'll take Messi as the best Argentinian.

 

[DetroitDevil]

 

[StuUKWI]

Maradona had a lot of help, I'll take Messi as the best Argentinian.

I guess I disagree here - I always considered Maradona the greatest ever because he single handedly won that world cup. Finally changed my pick to Messi in the last year or so.

 

[Janus]

I guess I disagree here - I always considered Maradona the greatest ever because he single handedly won that world cup. Finally changed my pick to Messi in the last year or so.

Singlehandedly?. OOOOOO I disagree. He had plenty of help. Let's remember the hand of God and then ignore it. He only had 1 more goal than Valdono and 2 over Burruchaga 5 goals does not establish brilliance when your teammates are so close. I can say that about Ronaldo from Brazil or Klose from Germany or Rossi from Italy or Mueller from Germany. Maradona didn't even win the golden boot. that's not the greatest performance. I'll go Ronaldo Brazil. Maradona wouldn't even make my 1st team all-stars.

 

[rsw626]

I guess I disagree here - I always considered Maradona the greatest ever because he single handedly won that world cup. Finally changed my pick to Messi in the last year or so.

Actually he didn't. The biggest difference between Maradona and Messi when it comes to Argentina is that Maradona had teammates that stepped up when it mattered. Remember, he didn't score in the final, it was Brown, Valdano, and Burrachaga. Argentina the last decade, despite having a stacked team, on paper at least, has relied on Messi to do it all, he single handedly took them to the 2014 Final, Aguero, DiMaria, Iguain, etc have all been pretty useless for the National team

My issue with Maradona is he wasn't always consistent, when he was "on" he was unstoppable, but he would go stretches of games where it was like he wasn't on the pitch, not to mention he snorted his career away. People forget that Barcelona got rid of him because he became an embarrassment on and off the pitch. While he is one of the greatest ever, my opinion is if he didn't have that World Cup, he'd be mentioned along the likes of Riquelme. Skill for skill, I'd take Messi any day, put him on that mid 80's - mid 90's Argentina, and he probably wins 2, maybe 3 World Cups on the bounce.

People too often get caught up in the myth of Maradona, instead of looking at the facts.