World Cup 2010 Blog: “World Cup Moments: Diego Maradona and the Hand of God” plus 1 more

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World Cup Moments: Diego Maradona and the Hand of God Posted: 14 Apr 2010 04:10 PM PDT This may be the most controversial goal in World Cup history. It’s from the 1986 quarter-final between Argentina and England, a game Argentina won 2-1 with Maradona scoring twice. We all know about his second goal, so this post will focus on his first. The infamous “Hand of God” goal. In the 51st minute, with the score at 0-0, Maradona played a ball out wide to Jorge Valdano. England’s Steve Hodge managed to dispossess Valdano, but could only kick the ball high into the air, back into the heart of the England penalty area. This set up an aerial challenge between England goalkeeper Peter Shilton (height: 6′ 1″) and Argentine attacking mid Diego Maradona (height: 5′ 5″). Shilton’s ball, yes? No. Because Diego Maradona beat Shilton to the ball, extending his left hand and punching it past the England keeper and into the net. 1-0. Shilton and the other England players complained, as you would, but Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser had failed to spot the handball, and so the goal stood. Obviously people in England both were and are very very upset about this goal. In the interests of full disclosure, I should make clear that I’m an England fan myself, and would prefer that this had never happened. When you see an opposition player clearly cheating and somehow getting away with it, and then winning the game (a World Cup quarter-final no less) as a result, it’s perfectly reasonable to wish bad bad things on El Diego. However… it’s been 24 years since the “Hand of God” goal. Very nearly a quarter of a century. Plus, the front page of World Cup Blog is supposed to be neutral. So I think it’s worth trying to look back at this moment as dispassionately as possible. Excuse me while I attempt to compose myself. … One thing I’ve come to appreciate about this goal is the sheer ballsiness of it. I’d imagine most other players placed in Maradona’s situation of challenging a goalkeeper for a high ball, with an eight inch height difference disadvantage (and that’s before you factor in Shilton’s reach) would make a half-hearted jump for a ball they have no intention or expectation of winning. Because no one would blame them for losing that battle. But Maradona wanted it. He wanted it bad enough to cheat. Not only that, he cheated cleverly, disguising his hand with his head at the moment he made contact with the ball. The referee could always disallow it, and maybe even show Maradona a yellow card, but in terms of risk vs reward, you can’t fault the logic behind Maradona’s decision to attempt the handball. It’s also worth considering the symbolism of this moment. This is something I think I heard the BBC’s South American correspondent Tim Vickery explain. Or maybe I read it somewhere, but have forgotten the source. Or maybe I even thought this up myself, in which case well done me. But basically, Maradona is from one of the rougher parts of Buenos Aries, where kids need to use their wits to get by and to get ahead. By fair means or foul. A tiny #10 beating a gigantic goalkeeper through cunning and quick-thinking is exactly the type of street smarts needed to survive. Then there’s the historical and emotional context of this particular game to consider. England fans maybe forget this too easily when discussingh Maradona’s handball, but in 1986 the recent Falklands War (or the Malvinas War), in which Argentina suffered a militarily defeat to the United Kingdom and lost 649 lives, was still fresh in the memory of all Argentineans. Here’s what Maradona himself wrote in his autobiography, describing the build-up to the 1986 World Cup quarter-final: I say a final because for us, because of everything it represented, we were playing a final against England. More than defeating a football team it was defeating a country. Of course, before the match, we said that football had nothing to do with the Malvinas War but we knew a lot of Argentinean kids had died there, shot down like little birds. This was revenge. It was like recovering a little bit of the Malvinas. In the pre-match interviews we had all said that football and politics shouldn’t be confused, but that was a lie. We did nothing but think about that. Bollocks was it just another match! (from “El Diego” by Diego Maradona, pages 127-128) That maybe doesn’t excuse the handball, but it definitely explains some of the motivation behind it. It’s Maradona doing what the Argentinean military couldn’t do, and defeating and bigger, stronger opponent through intelligence and cunning. Let’s move on past the actual handball moment itself, because Maradona’s post-match comments are almost as famous in their own right. When asked about the goal in the post-match press conference, Maradona responded that the goal was scored “a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God”. Cheeky, but one of the all time great footballing lines. Obviously Maradona knew he’d handballed at the time. But the Hand of God quote seems to be partially about not wanting to own up at the time, and partially about enjoying sticking it to the English. Here’s another excerpt from his autobiography, comparing the handball goal to his even more famous second goal: Sometimes I think I almost enjoyed that one more, the first one. Now I feel I am able to say what I couldn’t then. At the time I called it ‘the hand of God’. Bollocks was it the hand of God, it was the hand of Diego! And it felt a little bit like pickpocketing the English… (from “El Diego” by Diego Maradona, page 130) I know opinion is strongly divided on Diego Maradona. Both love and hate are regularly sent in his direction. Though as an England fan I still feel cheated by the little man, I also recognize him as one of the all time great characters of the game. Not just for his talents with the ball, which were amply demonstrated later in the very same game (which will be a World Cup Moments post of its own soon) but because he’s one of those guys that creates incident and controversy wherever he goes, and in doing so makes the beautiful game that much more entertaining. - More World Cup Moments here.

When is the World Cup 2010 Squad (or Roster) Deadline? Posted: 14 Apr 2010 12:28 PM PDT The World Cup is getting closer every day, and so people are starting to ask the question: When is the World Cup squad deadline? Other people are asking: When is the World Cup roster deadline? Which is just the same question with different terminology. Basically we all want to know when each of the 32 World Cup teams will submit their final lists of 23 World Cup players to FIFA, mostly so we can start judging them. Also because it would make our World Cup team profiles a lot easier to write. Unfortunately it’s hard to get a straight answer on exactly when this deadline is. There’s a May 11th deadline for submitting a 30 man preliminary squad to FIFA, but no publicly available fixed deadline for cutting that 30 man squad down to 23. FIFA’s official World Cup 2010 Regulations document states only that the 23 man squad is required “prior to the kick-off of the opening match in accordance with the deadline stipulated in the relevant FIFA circular.” Presumably this circular has been sent only to football associations and such, but a recent quote from France coach Raymond Domenech would seem to suggest said deadline is June 1st: “They must be clever and forget their ego to realise that the only thing that matters is the team, not them,” Domenech told French daily L’Equipe in an interview published on Tuesday. “If they don’t understand that, I will need a gun. We’re only supposed to give our final squad on June 1.” So there you have it. Sort of. Below you’ll find the relevant section of the official FIFA document: 26. List of players, rest period, preparationphase – final competition 1. Each association that qualifi es for the fi nal competition shall send FIFA a list of 30 players (showing the full last name(s), all fi rst names, popular name, place and date of birth, passport number, club and country of the club, height, weight, number of caps won, number of goals scored) whom it has called up in accordance with the relevant provisions of Annex 1 of the FIFA Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players. The release list of 30 players must be sent to FIFA by 11 May 2010 (30 days prior to the kick-off of the opening match). 2. The release lists of 30 players will be published by the FIFA general secretariat. 3. Each association will then be required to provide FIFA with a final list of no more than 23 players (three of whom shall be goalkeepers). This final list is limited to the players on the release list. The association must send this final list to FIFA prior to the kick-off of the opening match in accordance with the deadline stipulated in the relevant FIFA circular. 4. The final list of not more than 23 players (showing the full last name(s), all first names, popular name, number on the shirt, position, place and date of birth, passport number, club and country of the club, height, weight, number of caps won, number of goals scored) shall be submitted to the FIFA general secretariat, using the official form for this purpose. Only the numbers 1 to 23 may be allocated to these players, with number 1 being reserved exclusively for one of the goalkeepers. The shirt numbers for the remaining two goalkeepers may be any of the numbers between 2 and 23. The numbers on the back of the shirts shall correspond with the numbers indicated on the final list. Only these 23 players (except in cases of force majeure recognised by the FIFA Organising Committee) will be permitted to compete in the final competition. 5. The final lists of 23 players will be published by the FIFA general secretariat. 6. A player listed on the final list may only be replaced in the event of serious injury up until 24 hours before the kick-off of his team's first match. The replacement players do not need to be limited to the release list of 30 players. Such replacements must be approved in writing by the FIFA Medical Committee upon receipt and acceptance of a detailed medical assessment in one of the four official FIFA languages. The FIFA Medical Committee will approve the request if the injury is suffi ciently serious to prevent the player from taking part in the competition. The participating member association shall inform FIFA accordingly of the player's full details (cf. art. 26, par. 4) at the same time as when submitting the request to replace the injured player. 7. All 23 players shall be named on the list of players for each match (11 selected players and 12 substitutes). Up to a maximum of three of the substitutes may take the place of the selected players at any time during the match. 8. Not more than 23 people (11 offi cials and 12 substitutes) shall be allowed to sit on the substitutes' bench. 9. Before the start of the final competition, all listed players must prove their identity, nationality and age by producing their legally valid individual passport with photograph (stating day, month and year of birth). Any player who fails to submit his passport will not be allowed to take part in the final competition. Every player must also sign a declaration of compliance wherein he agrees to submit to these Regulations. 10. To protect players from burn-out before the final competition of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, the following dates shall apply: 16 May 2010 Final match day at club level for the 30 players nominated on the release lists for the fi nal competition of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. 17-23 May 2010 Mandatory rest period for the players on the release lists. Players of the two teams involved in the UEFA Champions League Final on 22 May 2010 will be granted permission to play, by way of exception, by the FIFA Executive Committee. 24 May – 10 June 2010 The preparation phase for the participating members associations in the final competition of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Source: Regulations, 2010 World Cup South Africa, pages 33 to 35, retrieved April 14th, 2010. So again, here’s how it seems to work: May 11th is the deadline for preliminary 30 man World Cup squads. If you don’t make this list of 30, you’re basically not going. Deadline for cutting this 30 man squad down to 23 is “prior to the kick-off of the opening match in accordance with the deadline stipulated in the relevant FIFA circular.” The recent quote from Raymond Domenech seems to suggest that said deadline has been circulated, and is June 1st. However, other media outlets disagree. ESPN recently claimed the deadline was June 5th. Seems this Deutsche Presse-Agentur release is where ESPN got the June 5th date from, but said release also believes the preliminary squads will be made up of 35 and not 30 players, which directly contradicts the FIFA doc. So, basically we’re not sure. But “early June” would be a good guess for the actual deadline, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of teams named their squads even earlier than that. Three other thoughts: Why does FIFA need to know every player’s weight? Will they be making a special World Cup edition of The Biggest Loser? The document clearly states that every 23 man squad must contain three goalkeepers. So anyone arguing for their squad to take only two keepers and an extra outfield player should cease and desist. FIFA should just make the final deadline date public. It’s almost as if they’re paying more attention to the coaches and federations than they are to this blog.

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