Pull on the Number 10
Who do you pretend to be
Hurst, Pele, Maradona?
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n.b. I still pretend to be Geoff Hurst as I was six when he scored his World Cup Final hat-trick. Seeing that on telly left quite an impression, but wow! to even think that one might dare to dream to pretend to imagine to be Pele, or Diego Maradona takes a certain precocious level of self-belief.
I saw Maradona once play in an exhibition match at Wembley in 1987. The crowd chanted insults at him following his “A little bit with his head and a little with the hand of God” goal in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England. It showed something of his character just to turn up. I don’t remember much about seeing him play that day though.
His importance to his home country cannot be over-stated. Sadly, he and the success of the Argentine team was the military junta’s bread and circuses of those days. That nation’s recent history is still being unpicked. The death of this little guy from Buenos Aires will lead to more unpicking. This article from The Guardian outlines some views about Maradona from Argentine people.
There are probably few athletes who have ever been so important to a nation, or to people worldwide. In his second home, Napoli and in Argentina he is a god.
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n.n.b. See Charlie Monaghan’s tribute on instagram @charliemon10 Diego Maradona meant a lot to the Scots too.
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CLP 26/11/2020
