RIP Diego Armando Maradona

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by martl

In 1989, Napoli came to Munich for the UEFA Cup semi final. When the players come on pre-match to do their warm up routines, they usually ho to the corner of the pitch where their support is. Not Maradona, he grabbed a ball and strolled to the corner where the hardcore Munich supporters have their home. I was among them, and we yelled and whistled at him, as it is customary with such a small provocation.

Then he started to juggle the ball in the air with his feet, knees, head, shoulders, chest and back for a good minute, in rhythm with the stadium song "life is life", shoelaces still untied.
We had stopped whistling and yelling very soon, and when he finished, we gave him standing ovations.

This incident has been held on film and has long since emerged into a worldwide meme, available on all the channels. One of my most cherished memories of football.

Farewell, great Man. God needed his hand back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vashrNoXTE

This is a wonderful post.

[Elefantino]

Pele remains No. 1 IMNSHO but Maradona is in the discussion with Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Messi. What a player. And the goal against England in 86 is the greatest ever.

[echappist]

And David Squires (football cartoonist at the Guardian) has paid a poignant tribute to the man. It's worth a browse.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...aradona-murals

[drewski]

"What Pele could do with a ball Maradona could do with an Orange." I can remember who said this.

He came from such humble beginnings. He seemed to have serious lapses in judgment during his life:
Getting mixed up with the Napoli Cosa Nostra, fathering children out of wedlock, etc. I appreciated that he stood up for the working class people
of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela. He was very hostile toward US policies particular under Dubya Bush.

I appreciated his authentic personality.

Fellow team member Goycochea getting emotional about Maradona:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwhOXWBFYAA

This video kind of epitomizes, what I love about South American, Italian, and Spanish culture. They are not afraid to be demonstrative. My step-father was an Italian Argentina and the best man I ever knew so I am biased toward that lovely country.


Che Diego mis condolencias a su familia, sus amigos y los hinchas en los barrios.

Mi Buenos Aires Querido cuando te vuelvo a ver
No habra mas pena y ni olvido

Dear Buenos Aires when will I see you again
There will not be more pain and I won't forget you
-Carlos Gardel.

[goonster]

David Squires.

(Click through for epic epitaph comic)

[echappist]

Originally Posted by goonster

David Squires.

(Click through for epic epitaph comic)

Dude, did you not see my post further up ? Jest aside, this one is up there with Squire's tribute to Cruijff (I liked the reference to Creation of Adam)

Originally Posted by echappist

And David Squires (football cartoonist at the Guardian) has paid a poignant tribute to the man. It's worth a browse.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...aradona-murals

PS. Good luck to your team today. Should be a good match.

[goonster]

Originally Posted by echappist

Dude, did you not see my post further up ?

OK, my bad, but did you see this one?

[echappist]

That’s quite magnificent as well.

Almost conjures up the ole Bjorg Lillien “your boys took a helluva beating” line.

Only thing better would have been the last defender to be Maggie Thatcher, for that war against Argentina

[ciclista_tifoso]

Originally Posted by drewski

"What Pele could do with a ball Maradona could do with an Orange." I can remember who said this.

He came from such humble beginnings. He seemed to have serious lapses in judgment during his life:
Getting mixed up with the Napoli Cosa Nostra, fathering children out of wedlock, etc. I appreciated that he stood up for the working class people
of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela. He was very hostile toward US policies particular under Dubya Bush.

I appreciated his authentic personality.

Fellow team member Goycochea getting emotional about Maradona:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwhOXWBFYAA

This video kind of epitomizes, what I love about South American, Italian, and Spanish culture. They are not afraid to be demonstrative. My step-father was an Italian Argentina and the best man I ever knew so I am biased toward that lovely country.


Che Diego mis condolencias a su familia, sus amigos y los hinchas en los barrios.

Mi Buenos Aires Querido cuando te vuelvo a ver
No habra mas pena y ni olvido

Dear Buenos Aires when will I see you again
There will not be more pain and I won't forget you
-Carlos Gardel.

This deeply resonates with me as I have a similar background. My father, born in Napoli, took a boat to Argentina as a young teen and lived there with his father until his early 20s (he eventually married an Argentine -- my mother -- and would joke how he spoke Castellano better than she did). His friends in Argentina endearingly called him 'gringo'.

As a first-generation American, I was fortunate to be raised in a family with strong Italian and Argentinean cultural roots, so can fully appreciate what you mean.

My father was a hardcore, passionate fan of soccer: huge fan of Maradona as a player, naturally (except when Argentina played Italy in the WC). The locals in Napoli wrote songs about him back in the 80s. He was clearly revered in his native Argentina as well.

He lived the life of several men, shortened as it turned out to be. Operated on alternate vibrations compared to most.

.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

Pele remains No. 1 IMNSHO but Maradona is in the discussion with Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Messi. What a player. And the goal against England in 86 is the greatest ever.

you can't possibly put Bekcenbauer and Cruyff and not include Eusebio and Ronaldo, come on.



Currently watching the HBO doc, its absolutely wonderful so far. So much amazing footage.

[Elefantino]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

you can't possibly put Bekcenbauer and Cruyff and not include Eusebio and Ronaldo, come on.



Currently watching the HBO doc, its absolutely wonderful so far. So much amazing footage.

I'd likely include Eusebio and Ronaldo in the top 10, maybe the top seven.

But then I'd also put Teofilo Cubillas in the top 10 and no one else would, most likely because he played for bad Peruvian teams.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

you can't possibly put Bekcenbauer and Cruyff and not include Eusebio and Ronaldo, come on.



Currently watching the HBO doc, its absolutely wonderful so far. So much amazing footage.

Eusebio is certainly top ten, but I'm not sure if he's at the pinnacle. That said, he and Portugal gmight have donebetter, had the host country been different..

That said, Cruijff is in a separate class. Yes, he had no major international wins, but no one else has shaped football the way he has, both as a player and as a coach. In his former capacity, he led Ajax to a European Cup threepeat and helped to revitalize the fortunes of Barça.

In his latter capacity, much of the success of modern-day Barça can be traced back to him, including his development of la Masia. He was responsible for piecing together the Barça squad of the late 80s and early 90s, and his coaching philosophy lives on through Pep Guardioloa.

Pele, Eusebio, Maradonna, Beckenbauer, and Ronaldo are all excellent players, and other than Eusebio, all have won accolades with their respective national teams, but no one has shaped football the way Cruijff has, in both the club game and the international game, and in two different countries, to boot.

[Jimborello]

If you ask the english I think they wont agree he was one of the best, after all they were thrown out of the world cup due to an amazing goal and another one that could be called one of the biggest sport cheats of all time.

Soccer fans dont forget fast, here in Mexico we havent forgotten how we were thrown out by the Netherlands in the 2014 World cup by what we think was a non existent penalty kick with Robben.

But yes, he was an amazing player.

[ridethecliche]

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/30/94004...-legends-death

Maradona doc under investigation after death. Looks like he was a pretty difficult patient in terms of following recs etc.

[Blue Jays]

Just learned (via Mario Cipollini a short time ago) that the great Paolo Rossi has also joined Diego Maradona.