Maradona Strikes Back in Argentina’s 3-1 Victory
The last time Argentina’s Diego Armando Maradona walked off the field after a World Cup game, it was in disgrace.
That was four years ago in Barcelona, Spain, where Maradona was tossed out for blatantly kicking a Brazilian opponent in the groin. The foul, a retaliatory act, was the result of pent-up frustration after Maradona himself had been the target of one brutal foul after another throughout the tournament.
Apparently, opposing teams still haven’t found a better way of countering one of international soccer’s premier players. On Monday afternoon, in front of an Olimpico ’68 Stadium crowd of about 50,000, South Korea tried the same tactic.
It failed. Miserably. The result was a 3-1 victory for Argentina, with Maradona directly responsible for setting up each of his team’s goals.
Receiving very little protection from Spanish referee Victoriano Armino, Maradona, sporting a gold earring in his left ear, set about answering the South Koreans the best way he knew how:
--In the sixth minute, after he had been chopped down from behind for the second time in the game, Maradona slammed the resulting free kick into the wall of South Korean defenders. The ball bounced back to him, he headed it across to teammate Jorge Valdano, and Valdano sent it spinning into the opposite corner of the net.
Argentina 1, South Korea 0.
--In the 18th minute, after he had again been fouled, this time by Kim Pyung-suk, Maradona lofted the free kick into the penalty area, where Oscar Ruggeri rose to head it strongly past the flailing arms of South Korean goalkeeper Oh Yun-kyo.
Argentina 2, South Korea 0.
Still, the South Koreans had not learned. The attempts to intimidate Argentina’s captain continued and, if anything, grew more desperate and clumsy.
In the 20th minute he was fouled by Park Chang-sun. In the 25th minute he was fouled by Huh Jung-Moo. In the 40th minute it was Kim Yong-se’s turn to do the dirty work, catching Maradona on the back of the calf with his studs.
This time, Maradona retaliated differently. After rolling down his sock to examine the red mark Kim had left, Maradona turned to the nearby South Korean bench and spat an obscenity in Spanish.
Less than five minutes later, just seconds before halftime, Huh caught Maradona in the face with his hand or arm, knocking him down. At long last, this brought some action from the referee, Armino showing Huh a yellow caution card.
But Maradona, having had 15 minutes in the locker room to ponder this latest insult, responded in an even better way just 56 seconds into the second half.
Sprinting down the right wing, he dribbled past two defenders before sending a low, fast cross skidding directly across the mouth of the goal. The ball eluded Oh’s dive and found Valdano unmarked at the far post with an open net in front of him.
Argentina 3, South Korea 0.
With large portions of the crowd now chanting “Mar-a-Don-a, Mar-a-Don-a,” South Korea knew it had picked on the wrong player. The fouls had achieved nothing except to injure their own reputation.
By now, the game was clearly won and Argentina eased up a little, although Valdano kept calling for the ball, trying to earn his hat trick.
The last goal, however, was scored by South Korea and, in addition to being well deserved, was the first in World Cup competition for the Koreans.
The honor belonged to Park, who watched his well-intentioned but rather hopeful shot from 20 yards out catch the underside of the crossbar and slide into the net. Park fell to his knees in what was either disbelief, joy, or both, and was immediately mobbed by his teammates.
In South Korea’s only two previous World Cup games--in Switzerland in 1954--the team had been shut out, 9-0, by Hungary and 7-0 by Turkey.
South Korean Coach Kim Jung-nam, asked afterward if he had instructed his players to stop Maradona any way they could, said no, adding that the referee obviously had not considered the play rough enough to expel anyone.
Argentine Coach Carlos Bilardo, meanwhile, said he thought expulsions had been justified, and that he had told his players at halftime not to risk injury by responding in kind.
As for Maradona, all he would say was that he had not expected such behavior from the South Koreans and hoped it would not be a sign of things to come in the tournament.
For Argentina, the World Cup prospects look good. Bilardo has shown that his team can win convincingly--albeit against a game, but clearly overmatched opponent--without having to use two of its best players, Daniel Passarella and Claudio Borghi, neither of whom was even on the substitute list Monday.
Of course, Bilardo did have Maradona on the field, and he was more than enough.
The next task will be considerably more difficult. Among those watching intently from the stands Monday was Italian Coach Enzo Bearzot, whose team will play Argentina Thursday in Puebla.
If the Italians plan to foul Maradona this time around--Claudio Gentile did an excellent job for Italy in that regard in Spain in 1982--it will have to be done a lot more subtly.
These days, Maradona does not necessarily react by kicking opponents. He just beats them.
