Entertainment For Lively Minds
Argentina - they've made it through yet again
Posted by McLongWhiteCloud on 15 October 2009 - 7:54am.
You have to give it to the little guy.
Here he is in his younger days....
- More from McLongWhiteCloud.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Very pleased
World Cup wouldnt be the same without them. They say the same about Germany but I think you would find more disagreement on that point.
Meh
No right foot.
he's still a cheating get
One of foopball's great ironies
is a two-parter.
First, England is the only country in the world to remember only the "hand of God" header and not the other goal that he scored in the same match, which even Di Stefano and Pele reckon is the greatest ever scored in the history of international football.
And, second, England is the only country in the world to believe that England won the 1966 World Cup Final 4-2.
he' still a cheating get
Every footballer
Is a cheating get. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Peter "boots of lead" Shilton or the referee.
he's still a cheating get
Unlike
the stout, morally unimpeachable sons of Melchester, of course.
Is a get
a git but in Northern?
Is a git
a get but in southern?
The only country in the world?
I always love "England is the only country in the world..." phrases! They imply the speaker has checked out every other country (which of course is never true). Here in Italy, where I live, they often make reference to the "hand of God" goal. Never the other. And I've never heard the 4-2 result questioned.
And to be fair...
And to be fair, any mention of Maradona's self-proclaimed Hand of God in England is almost always followed with "To be fair, that goal he scored afterwards was [insert nice adjective]".
Vile calumny!
Only yesterday I returned from my 182nd visit to a country (this time, Uzbekistan - nippier than I'd been expecting) to ask the two questions "Did the third goal go in?" and "Should the ref have stopped play before the fourth goal because of the pitch invasion?", receiving - for the 182nd time - the answers "No" and "Yes", respectively.
" returned from my 182nd visit to a country"
You are Fraser Lewry AICM5P
Good point stingono
The idea that Britain is the only country in the world where some of the natives are gormless patriots is as patently untrue as the statement that DM’s wonder goal in ’86 is “forgotten”. If footballers got paid royalties for clips shown in which they featured Alvin Martin would be on as big an earner as Paul Anka (or Jeremy Vine).
Exactly
plus...they won two nil, not one nil.
Yes well..moan time
It was us on the end of the cheating so understandably it does narrow our focus compared to say the Spanish view of it. Indeed, Spain are one of the favourites next year and are hardly likely to go meekly in the quarter final if knocked out through a similar piece of gamesmanship (charitable) even if followed by a sixty yard screamer.
Not so
Going meekly after losing a quarter final is what Spain traditionally do better than anyone else. If it happens again, it'll just be seen as business as usual.
To be serious for a minute, I think that the '66 victory has skewed our sense of England's rightful place. In most countries people consider that England have averaged about 6th or 7th in the world rankings since that World Cup, constantly being outperformed by Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany and Holland (and, more recently, France and Spain).
Whereas outside the UK for England to lose to one of those countries at any stage of any competition is seen as only to be expected, in England itself it's seen as an affront, which wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been the victims of cheating, unfair red cards or an unfavourable conjunction of Venus and Neptune.
Not so at the next WC
Spain vs Portugal quarter final in Cape Town. On 20 mins, Ronaldo does his best Greg Louganis impression and during the Spanish laughter, the ref (Graham Poll brought back from retirement following a global campaign) awards a penalty which he duly dispatches. The cheeky chappie then proceeds to deliver one of his patented 50 yard swerving free kicks and Spain go out despite leading World Cup goalscorer, Fernando Torres's effort on 70 mins. Whole of Spain shrugs shoulders and Barcelona fans giggle.
Alright, argument overdone..but after Euro 2008, Spain are now seen as real possibilities to win not perennial talented ousiders. I think we have had every right to be subjective about Hand of God.
I agree
England: one major final, 43 years ago, with home advantage, with only 16 teams in the tournament.
Germany: 13 major finals. But they only got there by diving and winning penalty shootouts, of course.
Even the current hoopla surrounding the England team is ridiculous (and I say this as someone who hasn't missed a Wembley game in about a decade). Capello has got them playing well against alpine principalities and part-time fireman - and this is an improvement, seriously - but they've struggled every time they've come across half-decent opposition (France, Spain, the Netherlands, Ukraine away). England will go to South Africa and lose in the quarter finals, which is precisely what any reasonable person would expect.
Cobblers, Fraser.
Cobblers.
Capello's got them doing loads of penalties on the practice pitch so they'll get through the quarters and lose in the semis.
In fact
they love a good moan about the ref in the quarter final loss to South Korea in 2002. Although having won the Euros, that might stop now...
Not just England
In Scotland Hand of God T shirts sell like hot cakes
Cheating get perhaps
Legend definitely
I don't understand his critics
He's easily as good a manager as Pele and George Best. Oh.
Is it better
To have Argentina and Portugal in it ? I don't know but I know I can't wait especially for the draw
Save your love my darling, save your love.
Lest we forget, this was only four years ago - over 18 stone but only 5ft6in:
After all his body's gone through - even just the tackles - it's amazing that he's still alive.
Clear evidence
in McLongwhiteCloud's posted video that Maradona's more recent problems are the likely result of strangulation of the upper regions caused by ludicrously tight shorts worn in his 80's heyday.
A clinical fact you can be sure.
...
...plus VERY heavy hair.
It's a shame that people from my generation
can only remember Maradona as the drug-addled footballer that got sent home from USA 94; and not the gifted talent he once was.
The Hispanic Gazza
Almost every single act committed or statement made by either in any location other than on a football pitch has been - and, sadly, still is - a toe-curling embarrassment.
and he's a cheating get
Yes, Archie
but few were more eloquent with a ball...I'm sure they weren't hired for their conversational lucidity and intellectual rigour :-)
I took this photo in a Pompei street market...
a couple of years ago. Maradona is still a god to the people of Napoli and the surrounding region.
God and football
Nice photo, Patrick. It reminds me of the time I noticed Chris Waddle (a different level of deity, but...) in HMV in Sheffield.
A young fan, probably about 10 years old, wearing a Sheffield Wednesday shirt with Waddle's number on it and "GOD" printed at the top, went up beside him to look at a CD.
They were stood side by side for at least a minute before going different ways, the disciple totally oblivious of the presence of his god.
I bought Chris Waddle
a double vodka and tonic in The Swan pub, Heworth, a long time ago. The bastard sausage-making apprentice has not bought me one back, and has not apologised for playing for the Mackems or missing that penalty.
He's still a cheating get, though.
Thought I'd get in first. To coin a phrase.
(Get=misbegotten=bastard)
Argentina are pure box office
From whatever era, they're everything a football team should be - skilful, tough, nasty and flamboyantly, dramatically entertaining on and off the pitch. Yes, Chris, Maradona is a cheating get, but isn't it great to have him to despise?
Brazil, on the other hand, I can't stand. They think they have a god-given right to tell the rest of us about the 'beautiful game' when some of their most successful teams have been as drearily efficient as Germany. And if I'm honest, the fact that they are most people's favourite second team brings out the contrarian in me.
Argentina seem to have qualified
in spite of the cheating "Get". In fairness, I could have , probably, led Argentina to qualification. It´s a bit like praising "Stormin" Norman Shwarzkopf for being a great general by beating the pathetic Iraqi army in the first Gulf War.
Apparently Senor Cheating Get
has struck out at his detractors after his team sneaked into the finals rumours that he's a secret Jeff Beck fan and hangs around here working ham based puns into rants about coldplay can not be confirmed although he does have strong opinions on mono or stereo, squirrels and erm god (well part of him anyway)....
New
I love the way England fans never mention the antics of Micheal Owen and Wayne Rooney on the diving front.The both of them can go down as good as a Drogba or Ronaldo any day.
By the way England fans ,please look at that goal again. He could have scored that goal without using his hands. His hand is on top of his head giving him little advantage anyway.
One-footed footballing dervish ...
... the guy really didn't have a right foot. Clearly he didn't need one.
... he rarely goes down. Defenders lunge in at him at all angles and he stays on his feet as if it would be an embarrassment to fall.
He wouldn't...
...have got past me...*files titanium studs to a sharp point*
...
That's what Messrs Butcher, Fenwick and Shilton thought.
Terry Butcher didn't nail him. Andrea Goicoechea
- The Butcher of Bilbao - did
Have another look at the video at the start.
Most of the tackles coming in TCG aren't worthy of red cards. They're more in the region of attempted murder. The low centre of gravity allied to curiously long legs, astonishing balance, superhuman strength and the peripheral vision of a fly just lets him be out of harm's way as a stream of psychotic latin full-backs with hatred in their hearts zoom in on their nemesis. If any one of them had contacted, he'd be minus a leg. That Goicoechea managed to get a boot on him speaks volumes about the Basque's skills as a dirty bastard.
The Maradona Bellyflop V Peru
is quite amusing, Although i am glad they got through just for the skills of Lionel Messi. I Fancy the Ivory Coast to go far at next summers world cup worth a fiver i think
Too sexy for that shirt
Messi is the most exciting football player I've ever seen, bar none (and I saw George Best play a lot when I was a kid). Literally breathtaking. But watching Messi with Argentina is more frustrating than enjoyable.
You'd expect that Aimar, Mascherano and - well, for 45 minutes or so, at least - Verón, all perfectly competent midfielders, would be capable of feeding him with the passes, through balls, space and one-twos that he needs to let rip with gusto, but it just doesn't happen.
As a result, watching Messi with Argentina is usually depressingly reminiscent of watching Best with Northern Ireland.
Maybe you really can be too good at something, sometimes.
I remember when Aimar
was hailed as the next 'new Maradona' a few years back, full of promise; what happened? He doesn't look anything special, indeed distinctly average.
Messi, wears the mantle
of Maradona but sadly Madardona is no manager. Hence, the vicissitudes that Argentina have endured in qualifying.
Maradona's ego and unshakeable self-belief - strengths as a player - have translated into bull-headed team selections - omitting star players for no apparent reason - pig-headed tactics and bizarre formations.
Having qualified finally, Argentina would do well to revert to the more level-headed Bilardo for the finals themselves. And may well do so. And may do well if they so do.
Regarding the "cheating" accusations,
wasn't it the job of the officials to spot such a blatant transgression?
He tried a schoolboy ruse on the biggest world stage and got away with it due to their incompetence. Good on him for such impudence. Don't try to tell me that England, or any other nation, operates on purely Corinthian ideals of sportsmanship.
Exactly
the idea that if the similarly short-arsed Michael Owen, for example, had pulled off such an attempt he would have immediately turned to the ref and said 'you're not letting that stand are you ref? I couldn't live with myself...'
The Beast of Bilbao-That's the way to do it!
*Inserts razors into the steel toecaps of his boots*
But seriously the way to shepherd players of that quality is to watch the ball at their feet, not their upper body. Oh, and be able to match them for pace-the bit where I always fall down.
Who gives a toss?
The referee usually!