Editorial office. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The word "revolution" refers to traces of battle, not necessarily political, but also social. There is no doubt that Diego Maradona marked a before and after in international soccer. His great ability with the ball in his left leg, his leadership on and off the field, and the way he fought against the highest body in world soccer, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association -FIFA, by its French acronym- make the legacy of the Argentine 10 eternal.
This morning, it was confirmed that, after being the victim of a cardiorespiratory arrest, the former Napoli, Barcelona and Boca Juniors player died at the age of 60. This was reported by the press officer of the famous Argentinian, Sebastian Sanchi, who said that at least four ambulances had gone to Maradona's home in Buenos Aires, but nothing could be done.
At the beginning of November, Diego Maradona was hospitalized for ten days due to a decompensation, although he was already diagnosed with a subdural hematoma in the hospital.
The departure of "El Pelusa" immediately brings to mind one of the great episodes in the history of world soccer when, in 1986, Argentina was crowned at the Azteca Stadium to lift its second World Cup with the star as captain.
Perhaps the victory over Germany in the final is not the most memorable in Diego Armando's career, but the quarter-final game of the same tournament against England on June 22, when he scored both goals in a game politically marked by the Maldives' dispute.
Maradona dragged the ball from midfield and eluded all the English rivals until it reached the rival area, where he took out the goalkeeper, dodged it and, sweeping himself, pushed the ball to score in favour of the Albiceleste.
On 51 minutes, after a series of bounces in the area from England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who was 20 centimetres taller than the "10", the ball was left in the air and both players got up to compete for it. Diego Maradona pretended to hit it with his head; however, he did it with his hand and ended up scoring to put Argentina on the road to the world title.
Maradona was always more of a rebel than a sergeant. After the World Cup, he led Italy's Serie A team Napoli, a modest and low-budget team, to compete and win the "Scudetto" in 1987 against the powerful Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus, framing the football war in the south against northern Italy.
After the title, Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi tried to bring the Argentine star into his ranks, but he refused and renewed his contract with humble Napoli until 1993. The alleged links with the Sicilian mafia and the high esteem of the people soon made Naples known as "Diego's city".
On November 25, 2016, one of the great figures in world politics and a close friend of the Buenos Aires man, Fidel Castro, also left at the age of 90.
They met in 1987, when Maradona declared his admiration for the Cuban player, as well as for Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who he carried tattooed on his arm as a symbol of Latin American liberation, a movement he accompanied in sport, when FIFA did not allow American footballers to compete for the most valuable awards. He even declared that both he and the Mexican Hugo Sanchez would have Golden Balls if the organ had not been exclusive.
Fidel Castro supported Maradona in 2000, when in January he was admitted to a rehabilitation centre for drug detoxification in Cuba. Diego Maradona made no secret of the fact that, in addition to being left-handed on the field, he sympathized with the ideals of the left in Latin America; he gave a toilet seat to the Cuban president, whom he named his "second father," arguing that every time he used it, he dedicated the act to the United States and George Bush.
Maradona also expressed feeling persecuted by FIFA when, in the 1994 World Cup in the United States, a doping control ended his career with the Argentine national team. On July 30 of that year, four days after Argentina defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the tournament, Diego Armando Maradona said, "I didn't take drugs, they cut off my legs," after the captain's urine test came back positive for ephedrine at halftime.
FIFA asked the Argentinean Football Association -AFA- to withdraw the star from the competition and, thus, not to see him wearing the Albiceleste again. The extraordinary thing about this case is that it was at the half time of a match, when, commonly, the anti-doping controls are carried out at the end of the matches, besides that, in that game, a nurse entered the field to remove the footballer from the arm.
The basis for such an act is the speculation of a plot against Maradona to play the World Cup on American soil, after he declared himself a supporter of Fidel Castro's ideals.
November 25 will mark history and resignify the word "revolution" in the dictionary, adding to it moments when two banners of ideals and beliefs departed to leave a legacy in two spheres: the ball and the planet.
