Diego Armando Maradona, a footballing legend idolised and vilified in equal measure, breathed his last on Wednesday evening, sending millions of his adoring fans across the world into mourning.
My earliest recollection of Maradona, goes back to 1986, the year when this man who has been eulogised as a flawed genius practically carried Argentina on his shoulders to a World Cup title in Mexico.
I was barely 10 years old at the time and my memory of the 1986 World Cup and Maradona’s (in)famous ‘hand of god’ is generally hazy.
What I vividly recall, though, is that on the day of the final match, what seemed like the entire neighbourhood crammed into our little living room to watch the epic showdown between West Germany and Argentina on a tiny 14-inch black and white TV set, a prized ‘asset’ in our household back then.
Maradona didn’t score in that match, but he pulled all the strings as Argentina subdued the dogged West Germans 3-2, an outcome that earned my two siblings and I a bottle of soda each from a neighbour who had put his last cent on the Germans.
I have better recollection of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where a reunified Germany got their pound of flesh from Maradona and his men, in a cagey and less thrilling sequel to the classic showdown four years earlier.
For me, and perhaps a majority of African football fans, what stood out was that even before Germany broke Maradona’s heart, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, playing with 10 men, had humbled the much-fancied Argentina in the opening match, thanks to François Omam-Biyik solitary strike.
After their conquest over Argentina, what is arguably the best squad that Cameroon has ever assembled had a successful outing, only exiting the tournament in a cloud of controversy against England in the quarter finals.
Regardless, the Roger Milla-led Cameroon had already written a new chapter in the tournament’s history by becoming the first African nation to reach the quarter finals.
Four years later, Maradona, still the driving force for Argentina, was expelled from the World Cup for a failed random drug test. It was a dishonourable swansong for Maradona.
When the World Cup finally came to Africa in 2010, a salt and pepper bearded Maradona emerge as the coach of a star-studded Argentina squad. The centerpiece of this stellar cast was none other Maradona’s heir to the throne, the one and only Lionel Messi.
Before the tournament kicked off, Maradona had promised to peel off his oversize suit and run naked on the streets of Buenos Aires if his charges emerged triumphant in South Africa.
Thankfully, the world was spared what would have been a bizarre spectacle after Argentina was thrashed 4-0 by their old enemies Germany in the quarter finals.
Sadly, Maradona never lived to his see his beloved Argentina crowned world champions again after his heroics of 1986.
Now the ‘hand of god’ has gone back to God. And so the world mourns the death of a football demigod. RIP Diego Armando Maradona!
