Category: Soccer

In 1986: Diego Maradona of Argentina scored the most controversial goal in World Cup history. Playing against England in the quarterfinals in Mexico City, Maradona knocked an errant back pass into the net for a 1-0 Argentina lead. It was obvious to everybody: The 115,000 in attendance, English goalie Peter Shilton and even Maradona himself that the ball was punched into the net. Only referee Ben Naceur missed the illegal handball. Maradona scored again (this one with his feet, and it was voted the Goal of the Century) to lead Argentina to a 2-1 victory and eventually the World Cup title. Maradona didn’t even try to cover up the fact the goal was bogus afterward, saying that it was the “Hand of God” that guided Argentina.

In 1994: Host United States won its first World Cup soccer game since 1950 with a shocking, 2-1 upset of heavily favored Colombia before 93,000 at the Rose Bowl. Andres Escobar of Colombia scored an own goal into his team’s net for what proved to be the game-winner. The United States also got a goal from Ernie Stewart and held off a late rally to send the huge crowd into a frenzy of U.S.A! U.S.A! chants. The Americans would advance past the first round for the first time since 1934. It would turn tragic 10 days later, however. Outside a night club in Colombia, Escobar was murdered by an unknown assailant.

A few months ago, Dave Eggers postulated that the main reason Americans hate soccer was because of the element of diving.

The second and greatest, by far, obstacle to the popularity of the World Cup, and of professional soccer in general, is the element of diving. Americans may generally be arrogant, but there is one stance I stand behind, and that is the intense loathing of penalty-fakers. There are few examples of American sports where diving is part of the game, much less accepted as such.

But diving in soccer is a problem. It is essentially a combination of acting, lying, begging and cheating, an unappealing mix. The theatricality of diving is distasteful, as is the slow-motion way the chicanery unfolds… American sports are, for better or worse, built upon transparency, or the appearance of transparency, and on the grind-it-out work ethic.

Nowhere was this more evident than a play in a relatively uneventful 2-0 victory by Italy over Ghana. An Italian player was fouled from behind by a Ghana player and by the look of it, someone had shot him in the achilles. He laid on the field moaning like someone killed his dog and then stopped briefly to open his eyes to see if he got the foul, then immediately closed them again and resumed moaning. After a few moments, the Docs came on the field and carried him off on a stretcher. About a minute goes by and he’s jogging back on the field and proceeds to play at full speed. It was the worst faking since Ricky Williams told us he loved the game of football / since Stu Scott pretended he was street / since Jeff Garcia dated the playboy model… hell, just insert your own joke here.