The Hand of
God
The quarter final between England and
Argentina was a very important game. Four years
earlier the countries had been at war over the
Falklands Islands. For Argentina it was a chance to
avenge the notorious defeat in 1966.
The game was played in the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City in
front of 114,000 spectators. There were no goals in the
first half but the second contained two of the most famous
in football history – both scored by Diego Maradona.
For the first goal Maradona jumped for a high ball with
England goalkeeper, Peter Shilton. Unable to reach the ball
with his head he punched the ball into the net. After the
game Maradona said he had scored the goal with ‘the hand of
God.’
Greatest
Goal
Neither the referee nor his
assistants saw the hand-ball.The England players and
manager were very angry. But they had no complaints about
Maradona’s second goal. For this the Argentina captain took
the ball ran half the length of the pitch past entire
England defence. Many people consider it the greatest goal
of all time.
England got one goal back and came close to equalising but
Argentina held on.