The Road To VAR | Ep 3
Here was the writer of his own symphony, conductor of this one man orchestra, his audience including the Englishman left in his mesmeric wake. Balance and poise, the skill and audacity to even attempt a run through an entire defence that prided itself on its physicality and "never say die attitude” spoke something of the divine in its beauty, in its execution and in its sheer inevitability.
This was the hand of Providence surely. According to Maradona however, the divine hand touched the first goal. And ever since, his status as hero or villain is often coloured by his two goals scored against England on that fateful day. Heroes and villains are also found decked in black, charged with officiating football's premier global tournament. The quarter-finals of the Mexico World Cup would lay bare to an ever-increasing global television audience, the lengths to which players were prepared to bend the rules to win, as well as the rank incompetence of match officials.
Argentina vs England 1986 World Cup quarter-final.
The 1986 World Cup finals were held in Mexico.The country was still recovering from the devastating earthquake of the previous year. There were fears that the tournament would have to be moved, but Mexico recovered and a resilient nation turned once more to the beautiful game for its collective salvation. The 1970 World Cup, the previous time the tournament was held in Mexico, would enter football folklore after Brazil and its golden generation of Pele, Rivalino, Jerson and Jarzinio brought to a global audience a new and intoxicating brand of football.
In 1986, Brazil arrived in Mexico as one of the pre-tournament favourites. It retained much of the 1982 World Cup squad, often described as the greatest team to never have won the World Cup. The 1986 Brazil side, still boasting the likes of Socrates, Falcao and the man dubbed the white Pele - Zico - now age 33 were another wonderfully gifted but now aging side. Across the South American continent, bitter rivals Argentina were resting their hopes on their own enigmatic number 10. Diego Armando Maradona was 25 and entering his professional peak. After making a name at Boca Juniors, he was quickly snapped up by Catalan giants Barcelona for a then world record fee of £5m.
After a promising start, things turned sour for the mercurial Maradona. Fallouts with senior club officials, a distracting social life, as well as serious injuries,eventually took their toll and Maradona's short-lived sojourn in Catalonia was over. His next destination would herald the beginning of a career-defining period. Maradona had moved to Naples. It would provide the arena he'd always been looking for. Adored both on and off the field, Maradona led Napoli through a golden era, littered with domestic and European titles. He came into the 1986 World Cup finals in the form of his life.
Over in England, national team manager Bobby Robson was hanging onto his job after the England team failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championships. Robson, in typically honourable fashion, offered his resignation to the FA, but it was refused. Robson was rebuilding, and much of the team he inherited in 1982 were phased out. John Barnes, Mark Hateley and Gary Lineker were emerging talents and would complement established international's Glen Hoddle, Terry Butcher, Kenny Sampson and Captain Brian Robson all now in their mid-20s. The biggest issue facing the English FA was the ongoing spectre of hooliganism.
English football had reached its nadir in 1985 after football in tragedies in Birmingham, Bradford and most infamously, Heysel. English clubs were banned from European football for five years, and there were fears the ban would be extended to the national team,given the terrible reputation its fans had earned. Those fears were never realised. England made short work of their qualification group and arrived at the World Cup in good form. The group stages put England together with Morocco and Poland, while Argentina were pitted against reigning world champions Italy and Bulgaria.
Argentina qualified with little drama from their group. England however had left it late. Morocco topped the group and only a Gary Lineker hat trick in the final group game against Poland, arm in cast and all, put England through to the next round. After dispatching Paraguay and Uruguay respectively, England came face to face with Argentina in the quarter-finals. The rivalry between the two countries is a rather unusual one. Most footballing rivalries are continental. England, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy. Argentina, England, is arguably the biggest and quite possibly only inter- continental rivalry in World Football. But its a rivalry rooted not just in football, but history, politics, and national identity.
In 1806, the British army invaded and occupied Buenos Aires for 45 days. They were driven out but returned a year later to try again.But once again resistance was strong and the invasion failed. Later in 1833, the British returned to the region, this time to the Malvinas, which eventually became the Falkland Islands. The British campaign was successful this time and the islands were incorporated into British territory. Buenos Aires in the mid 19th century was home to some 10,000 British immigrants and it wasn't too long before football was being played and organised. On the 9th of May 1867, at a meeting organised by two brothers from Yorkshire, Thomas and James Hogg, the Buenos Aires Football Club was established. And the first football match to be played in Argentina was played at the Buenos Aires Cricket Club on the 20th of June 1867. The match was played between two teams of British merchants, the white caps and the red caps. It was a common practice for teams to be distinguished by their caps rather than their shirts. It was, after all, the gentlemanly thing to do.
Now although the British introduced football to Argentina, they were rather more reluctant to introduce Argentinians to football. Of the five teams that made up the new fledgling association Argentine football league in 1891, not a single player was Argentinian. The seeds of resentment were, if not sewn, certainly blowing in the wind by what many local Argentinians saw as English arrogance. And so this strangely symbiotic love-hate relationship continued.
From the peculiarly English-named football clubs River Plate, Racing and Newells Oldboys, to the absorption of English footballing terminology, strikers are called Centro Forward, a corner kick is, would you believe, a corner. The English influence on Argentine football is an ironic footnote in the tumultuous history of two great footballing nations.
And the controversies kept building, each one adding to the expanding number of chapters to an already voluminous book. But the 1966 World Cup was a watershed moment. This was when the underlying simmering tensions boiled over. Argentinia captain Antonio Ratin was sent off but nobody was quite sure why. The German referee had sent him off for what he described as "violence of the tongue" even though he spoke no Spanish. Ratin argued that he couldn't understand the German referee. Ken Aston, the referee's supervisor, arrived to demand Ratin leave the field of play. But this only confirmed a suspicion held by the Argentines, indeed most South Americans, that this was a European conspiracy. The legend of the "theft of the century”, as it came to be known in Argentina, was born. To make matters worse, England manager Alf Ramsey didn't allow his players to swap shirts at the end of the game and later described the Argentines as "animals". In Argentina there was outrage at what was seen as a deeply racist outburst. Argentina would not forget.
On June 12, 1977, England travelled to Argentina for a "friendly". If ever there were such a thing between the two nations. The famous L'Abon Benera Stadium, home of Boca Juniors, chanted “Animals" in ironic mockery of Alf Ramsey's description of the Argentina team of 1966. The game ended 1-1, but not before Daniel Bertoni of Independiente took umbrage to a rather heavy challenge from the Leeds United defender Trevor Cherry. Bertoni punched Cherry flush in the face. The Argentine was sent off and Cherry arrived back in England minus two front teeth. Bertoni once famously said of the rivalry between the two nations. "England is the classic rival. It is for reasons of politics and history, but also because we feel football is our game. And so when we play England, we are claiming back what we see as ours, and what you see ha belonging to you.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the House meets this Saturday to respond to a situation of great gravity. We are here because for the first time for many years British sovereign territory has been invaded by a foreign power. After several days of rising tension in our relations with Argentina, that country's armed forces attacked the Falkland Islands yesterday and established military control of the islands."
On the 2nd of April 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands and war broke out. When Argentina and England faced off in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup, it was the first meeting between the two since the end of the war four years prior. Both camps played down the rivalry. Both said it was just a game of football. “Look” snapped Maradona to the gathered throng of press before the game, ”The Argentina team does not carry rifles, nor arms, nor ammunition. We came here only to play football. How can I talk about the war when only last month 30,000 Tottenham fans cheered me in Ossie Ardiles’ testimonial." But as the two teams lined up for the national anthems, Diego Maradona does not look straight ahead. His head is turned left, shooting a piercing gaze at his English adversaries in what can only be described as utter contempt. As much as the two teams denied it, there was a palpable edge in the build up to the game. The authorities had banned the display of any political banners amongst rival supporters to try to lower tensions. Scuffles did break out on the stands, but mercifully they remained minor, isolated incidents. With national anthems, formalities and exchanges of gifts done, the battle commenced. The first half was cat and mouse, as England managed to keep Maradona and 10 other Argentinians at bay. But it was clear that Argentina was the superior team. With the deadlock unbroken, the teams went into the half time interval at 0-0.
The second half began much like the first half had ended. Argentina seemed a likely a threat, and Maradona was a marked man. Terry Fenwick, partnering Terry Butcher once more after a suspension, had already been booked in the first half for scything down Maradona. He was also fortunate to say the least, not to have been sent off for a blatant elbow to the face of the Argentine captain. The second half was much the same. Both teams had turns in possession, but Argentina were always the more threatening. And then, in the 51st minute, the game exploded into life, and entered into footballing infamy.
Maradona picked up the ball midway inside the English half. He glides past a stature-esque English midfield and attempts a short pass in an attacking position. The pass, however, is intercepted by Steve Hodge, who, either inexplicably attempts a backpass to goalkeeper Peter Shilton, or completely slices his attempted clearance. Maradona continues his run into the box and jumps into an aerial challenge with the veteran England goalkeeper. Shilton comes out second best. Maradona wheels away in celebration as the ball bounces into an empty net. A few England players are appealing to the referee for something. At first, it isn't clear what for. England were still reeling from the first goal, when Maradona produced something of the sublime to go hand in hand with the ridiculous.
Picking up the ball just midway inside the Argentine half, Maradona produced a mesmerising display of skill, ingenuity, strength and balance to destroy any English hopes of a comeback. He had run nearly three quarters the length of the pitch, leaving more than half the team in his wake before slotting the ball past a hapless Peter Shilton. If it wasn't already the greatest individual goal ever seen at a World Cup, FIFA gave its official seal of approval when it was voted as the goal of the century in 2002. While much of the world sat in awe after witnessing arguably the greatest player to ever play the game, scoring one of the greatest goals ever scored, attention in England was soon being turned to the controversial first goal.
At the post-match press conference, Maradona was unrepentant and rather poetic in his defiance when quizzed about whether he had handled the ball for the controversial first goal. "A little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.” A throwaway comment from a scoundrel, a rascal as Bobby Robson would later describe him, or a moment of high literature. at once speaking to a fanatical footballing country rooted in religion and of national pride still wounded by the loss of the Malvinas. The England camp was fuming. England manager Bobby Robson was scathing in his criticism. "Maradona with Argentina were the best team. He was by far the greatest player in the tournament. He was the world's best player and he knocked us out. He was a rascal in one situation with a handball. He said it was the hand of God. I said it was the hand of a rascal and I'm right. Under the hand he was a genius.”
England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and centre-back Terry Butcher, who Maradona left for dead for the second goal, have both stated emphatically that they would never forgive Maradona for what happened. Not that Maradona was ever looking for forgiveness. The Argentine had always maintained that what he did while it was not premeditated was part of the game, part of winning. And while the reaction to the handball may reflect the two different footballing cultures at play,the historic sense of colonial grievance is never far away. In 2005 Maradona said "whoever robs a thief gets a 100 year pardon.” Despite the anger amongst the England camp, there were some players who were rather more circumspect. Gary Lineker who scored England's goal that day and John Barnes both directed their ire toward the match officials.
The referee and lineman for the day was Ali Bin Nasser from Tunisia and Bogdan Dochev from Bulgaria. Before the game had even started, there were murmurings regarding the selection of an inexperienced referee for such an explosive game at a World Cup quarter final. Both Jimmy Hill and Barry Davis from the BBC commentary team that day questioned the credentials of the man from Tunisia. But in fairness to Ali Bin Nasser, he wasn't the only official that day to miss one of the most glaring errors in the history of the sport. The linesman that day, Bogdan Dochev was surely in a better position to adjudicate. The controversy between the two match officials descended into a long-running feud with each former official laying the blame squarely at the feet of the other. "I was waiting for Dochev to give me a hint of what exactly happened but he didn't signal for a handball and the instructions FIFA gave us before the game were clear. If a colleague was in a better position than mine, I should respect his view." Bin Nasser explained many years later. Dochev was furious that he was being made the scapegoat. He launched a counterattack. "Although I felt immediately there was something irregular, back in that time, FIFA didn't allow the assistance to discuss the decisions with the referee.
If FIFA had put a referee from Europe in charge of such an important game, the first goal of Maradona would have been disallowed." Dochev told the Bulgarian media. The feud continued and the two never reconciled. Dochev passed away in 2017. Football and television technology had come a long way since Geoff Hurst's disputed goal in the 1966 World Cup final. Whereas modern technology was used to prove, in the main, that Hurst's goal should have been disallowed many years later, it was much easier for television replays in 1986 to show almost instantaneously that Argentina's first goal was not as a result of the hand of God after all, but the hand of Maradona himself. There were no calls for technology to be used in football in the immediate aftermath of the 1986 World Cup. As well as Maradona’s hand of God incident, there was yet more refereeing ineptitude on display in one of the other quarter-final fixtures between France and Brazil. In an almost eerie rerun of the scandalous Harold Schumacher assault on Patrick Batiston in the 1982 World Cup, Brazilian goalkeeper Carlos came rushing off his line to challenge Bruno Bellone, who was through on goal. The Frenchman rounded the keeper but was almost rugby tackled to the ground. There was no free kick and play continued. Mercifully, there was no repeat of the serious injury that Batiston had suffered in 1982. And this time, the footballing gods were on the side of the French, seeing off favourites Brazil after a penalty shootout. Despite such high-profile errors, there were no calls for wholesale change.
Football and its viewing public seemed more readily accepting of the realities of human error in officiating. What it did do, however, was to give a worldwide television audience the idea that they had a better view of the game than the officials on the field of play. For how long could that be justified.