The Argentine soccer player has his day (his new day), which arises from an unforgettable goal, from an incomparable left foot, from a human being consecrated to God, who is awarded a miraculous immortality. The date that bears this anniversary is located at number 22 of the month of June. And the moment that gives it meaning is Diego Maradona as the protagonist, the World Cup in Mexico ’86 as the great event, the Azteca Stadium as the stage and England as the key witness.
Those who were there, those who were born after, and the soccer community in general, coincide in calling it the “goal of the century.” “Maradona, in a memorable tour, in the play of all time… Cosmic kite… What planet did you come from to leave so many Englishmen on the road, so that the country is a clenched fist screaming for Argentina?” VÃctor Hugo Morales said from a story embraced by emotion, with his voice totally taken over by tears and surprise, not being able to believe what he had just described.
114,600 spectators saw that goal at the Azteca Stadium –according to official FIFA data– Maradona covered 60 meters with the ball, 10.6 seconds it took him to reach Peter Shilton’s goal, 14.4 km the speed at which he did it and more of five Englishmen who were scattered on the floor. For all this and various condiments that give this play a magical character, where words no longer enter, is that Futbolistas Argentinos Agremiados (FAA), in August 2020 -with Pelusa alive- took the initiative to propose that on the day of the Argentine soccer player is celebrated on June 22.
“This memorable goal was chosen as the best goal in the history of the World Cups or the goal of the century by FIFA. Based on the above and that the narrated goal will remain in the memory of the whole world and especially for all the Argentine people , FAA proposes to the AFA, and it accepts, to replace the date corresponding to Footballer’s Day with June 22, 1986”, was part of the statement with which the FAA announced the modification that was put into effect as of 2021 and replaced the historic May 14, 1953 that celebrated that goal by Ernesto Grillo in a friendly match on the River field against England, where he also stacked several Englishmen to define from a very close angle and surprise everyone. “Waste of ability”, described the rapporteur of the time.
Maradona’s goal opened a portal to new stories, it sent coordinates of the near future, which would see its continuity in Lionel Messi (see his 2007 goal with Barcelona against Getafe, it is the remastering of the one Diego made for England) and made possible a corpus in aeternum of literature and epic. 37 years have passed since that moment, of those goals, of that afternoon in which “the hand of God” also happened and the English reneged on the deception. “I did everything I could and in the famous photo you can see that I am closer to the ball than his head. That’s why he touches it with his hand. There will always be people who say ‘Hey, he jumped more than you.’ But no, he cheated,” Shilton declared a few years ago in Guardian.
“It was a ball that I couldn’t reach with my head. Shilton is 1.85 and I am 1.66. I had to make an effort, put my left fist in and put my head back to see if it would pass. I make the gesture, I touch the ball, I see that it goes in in the goal and I come out screaming. When I see that the line is going to the middle of the field, I asked the boys to come and hug me, to make a mess so they can collect it. And the boys, all shy, hugged me as if to say We are stealing. And there I told them, whoever steals from a thief has a hundred years of forgiveness,” Maradona said in his well-remembered television program, La noche del 10.
But at the moment of reliving the dream goal, the one that claims the nickname of being the best in the history of the World Cups and gives meaning to the day of the Argentine soccer player, he commented: “it can be called in many ways, but I want to call it : Thanks to the Turk” and told about a friendly match in ’80 at Wembley, in which he made a very similar play against England that was not a goal, in which his brother, Hugo, later pointed out an error in the decision final, which served as advice for the definition of all time.
“It was a play in which instead of hooking him inside, as I did in the World Cup with Shilton, I played the ball to the right, hitting him with three fingers and he went to the right post of the goalkeeper (Ray Clemens). When he came from the tour, my little brother, the Turk, tells me: Pelu, you were wrong. You had time to fake him, hook him inside and go in with the ball and everything, “he said on the night of the 10th and sealed the anecdote with the reasons that led him to baptize that goal with his brother’s nickname.
“In the World Cup, when I throw it forward to (Terry) Fenwick, I swear by what I love most, which are my two daughters Dalma and Giannina, that I remembered the Turk, what he had told me. And I thought: if he I play the ball there, it goes out. I had the possibility to hit him, but when I fake Shilton I see that there is a faint and all I had to do was accommodate it … I hit him with three fingers and Butcher kicked me quite a bit important on the right, but the joy of the goal was so great that it didn’t hurt me”.