37 Years Ago

37 Years Ago

OpenLife Nigeria reports that on Thursday, June 22, when the world recalled the unforgettable soccer feat of 37 years ago when Argentine footballer, Diego Maradona, during the Argentina versus England quarter finals match at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, scored with the “The hand of God.”
The goal was illegal under association football rules because Maradona used his hand to score, but because the referees did not have a clear view of the play, it stood to give Argentina a 1–0 lead. Argentina went on to win 2–1, with Maradona scoring a second goal known as the “Goal of the Century,” en route to claiming the World Cup.
The goal’s name derives from Maradona’s initial response on whether he scored it illegally, stating it was made “a little with the head of Maradona, and a little with the hand of God”. Maradona later said he considered the goal to be “symbolic revenge” for the United Kingdom’s victory over Argentina in the Falklands War four years earlier with a vector.
The goal

Six minutes into the second half of the game, Maradona took the ball out of the box with his left leg and passed it to teammate Jorge Valdano. Valdano tried to take on several English defenders, but the ball was intercepted and thrown back and forth and kicked towards England’s goal by English midfielder Steve Hodge.
Because of the position of the players, Maradona would have been caught offside, but as the ball came off an opponent, there was no offside offence. Alone inside the penalty box and with the ball dropping down, Maradona contested the ball with goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who stood 20 centimetres (8 inches) taller than Maradona. Shilton jumped forward with his right hand, while Maradona did so with his left arm outstretched. Maradona’s fist, which was raised close to his head, touched the ball first and hit the ball into England’s goal. Maradona began to celebrate while glancing sideways at the referee and the linesman for confirmation. He then fully celebrated the goal when it was given.

Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur gave the goal, but after the English players’ protests he sought the advice of his second linesman who confirmed the goal.
Mexican photographer Alejandro Ojeda Carbajal immortalized this moment in a photograph in which Maradona can be seen hitting the ball with his hand.
Now I can say what I couldn’t at that moment, what I defined at that time as The Hand of God. What hand of God? It was the hand of Diego!

True Confession
In 2005, 19 years after scoring the controversial goal, Maradona confessed on a program La Noche del 10, that the goal was actually scored with his hand.
Several world media outlets reported the news, creating controversy. Even Peter Shilton rejected the apology, arguing that it was now too late. Maradona, a few days after the article came out, denied everything, saying that the British newspaper The Sun had misquoted him. Maradona responded:
“I never spoke of forgiveness. I said only that the story could not be changed, that I do not have to apologize to anyone, because it was a football game in which there were 100,000 people in the Azteca stadium, twenty-two players, that there were two linesmen, that there was one referee, that Shilton (the goalkeeper) speaks up now and he hadn’t noticed, the defenders had to tell him. So the story is already written, nothing can change it. And that was what I said. I never apologized to anyone. Besides, I don’t have to apologize by making a statement to England. For what? To please whom? What pisses me off the most is that they repeat this in Argentina and talk to people who know me. They talk about contradictions. At forty-seven I think that apologizing to the English is stupid.”

The Hand of God In Subsequent use
The “Hand of God” became a popular phrase and is still referred to around the world. Some other famous football handballs are:
• In the first round of the 1990 World Cup between Argentina and the Soviet Union, in the first half of the 2–0 win, a Soviet attack failed as Maradona intercepted the shot with “the hand of God” without the referee noticing.
• In the 2004 AFC Asian Cup Final between China and Japan, Koji Nakata scored Japan’s second goal by hand, which would later stand, much to the dismay of Chinese fans as the Chinese hosts lost 3–1 to the eventual champions.
• During a league match against Espanyol on 9 June 2007, Argentinian Barcelona player Lionel Messi scored by launching himself at the ball and guiding it past the goalkeeper with his hand in similar fashion to Maradona’s Hand of God goal.
• During the final minutes of the second leg of the play-off for the 2010 World Cup between Ireland and France, William Gallas scored the decisive goal from a Thierry Henry assist that gave France a 2–1 aggregate victory and qualified them for the World Cup. Controversy followed immediately as replays showed Henry repeatedly centering the ball with his hands moments prior to passing the ball to Gallas. Despite protests from the Irish side, Swedish referee Martin Hansson did not admonish Henry and allowed the goal. After the match ended, sports media from around the world gave Henry’s cross several nicknames, ranging from “The New Hand of God,” to the more scathing “The Hand of Frog”, the latter using an insulting term towards French people.
• Uruguayan footballer Luis Suárez illegally stopped with his hand a likely goal from Ghanaian Dominic Adiyiah in the quarter-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Suárez was shown the red card; nonetheless, Uruguay survived and overcame Ghana on penalties. At the subsequent press conference, the striker said he had done so with the “Hand of God”,[12] and it later became popularly known as “Hand of God 2.0.”
• On 11 February 2020, in Group G of the 2020 AFC Cup, Joshua Grommen of Ceres-Negros F.C. scored the second goal of their game against Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC by diverting the ball into the net with his hand. Despite vocal protests from the opposing side, the goal was given as officials had failed to notice the blatant handball.
The legacy of “Hand of God” has extended beyond the realm of football. Paolo Sorrentino’s semi-autobiographical 2021 drama is named after the incident and references Diego Maradona’s influence on 1980s Naples.
Maradona’s shirt
After the game Maradona swapped his shirt in the tunnel with Steve Hodge. After many years of requests to sell the shirt and a period of 20 years where it was on loan at the National Football Museum, in 2022 Hodge placed it up for auction with auctioneers Sotheby’s. On 4 May 2022, the shirt sold at auction for £7,100,000, a world record for a piece of sports memorabilia.