Bomber
05-16-2002, 07:20 PM
I started playing soccer when I was 10 years old, and like any boy at the time, I fell in love with the greatest player of all time Diego Maradona. since I laid my eyes on that player, I was astonished, every single move he does in a soccer game leaves me in a amazement, he has skills that no other had and nobody will ever have. This is how my love story with Argentina started rolling becasue of this awesome player. I lived through 3 world cups with Argentina and unfortunatly I never experienced a sccessfull campaign, it started with Maradona in 1990, again with Diego, Caniggia and Batigol in 1994, and finally with Bati, Veron, Ortega and the whole "gang". and I'd like to write about my disappointment from all those cups.
1990:
I don't remeber that tournament very well since I was a bit young at the time but I surely remeber the last two games against the Squadra Azzura and West Germany.
Italy had a great squad at that time, Schilaci was firing from all celenders, they were playing on their home soil and it was a very hard game, Ofcourse Schilaci scored first in the 17th minute, and later Caniggia equalised, Argentina had to play penalties to beat Italy where Goycoechea (Argentina's kepper back then) saved two penalties from Donadoni and Serena, while Argentina scored all their penalties to win over Italy and knock then out of the cup in their home country and infront of their own nation. In the same time West Germany also won over England and qualified for the final to gain the chance to take revenge of Maradona because of the world cup final in 1986.
In the final Maradona didn't play like usual, he was closely marked. while Pedro Monzon from Argentina made history as being the first player to be sent off in a world cup final for a tackle on Klinsman in the first half.
West German later earned a penalty when Sensini brought down Voller in the penalty area. Brehme scored that "dubious" penalty wide from the penalty saving specialist Goycoechea. Another Argentine was later sent off and West Germany outclassed Argentina and won the world cup, they left Maradona crying and Matthaus celebrating.. This was the first disappointment !
1994:
This world cup was the last chance for Maradona to show his skills to the world, the period between 1990-1994 was not very kind to Maradona: he was banned for drugs in Serie A after Napoli-Bari game in march 1991. Then he joined Sevilla in spain and went back to Argentina. but his thoughts always went to that cup in the USA, his desire was to finish his career with some "fireworks".
Argentina was in group D with Bulgaria, Nigeria and Greece. Argentina won against Greece 4-0 with diego scoring a beautiful goal, I still can't forget when he ran towards the camera and screamed something like "Here I am! I'm still the number one!", his game against Greece was incredible, Batigol scored a hatrick in that game :).
The second game was against Nigeria and Argentina won 2-1, after Nigeria scored first then Argentina faught back. Maradona was the man of the match. he made a great assist for Caniggia when Diego passed the ball to Claudio instead of shooting straight to the net, although Maradona was 34 years old at the time but he was still playing better than ever. "El Pibe de oro" was supeb in those two games and Argentina became the world cup favourite.
But all the sudden everything changed, Maradona was suspended to drug use (?), I can never forget Diego's tears, it was a sad day not only for Argentina but for the world of football. The whole NT was shocked and ofcourse it had a awful impact and them so we lost to Bulgaria and then beaten by Romania in the second round. Its like after what happened to Maradona all Argentina hopes were "gone with the wind".
And to add something about Maradona, just to see his picture kissing the world cup in 1986, and his "hand of god" :D and the historical second goal in England always gives me some joy. Gracias Diego, you are and you will always be the best ! :cool:
The 1994 world cup was the biggest disappointment for me after the awful thing that happened to Maradona ! :(
1998:
I and we all remember that Tournament very well, it was the first world cup to be held without Maradona since 1986, we had great players, Batigol and Lopez were lethal, Crespo was ready on the bench, we had great middlefield with the likes of Veron, Simeone and Ortega, and although our defence was a bit shaky but we had a great goalie to cover them, Carlos Roa !
We started our games in a worrying way after a hard game against Japan, but we recovered and thrashed Jamaica 5-0 with Ortega running the show and Batistuta scoring a hatrick, we played Croatia afterwards and beat them through Pinida's goal.
The hottest game in France 98 was without any doubt Argentina-England, I swear I almost got a heart-attack. When Bati scored I was thrilled, but then they scored two goals and I was devastated but luckily Zanetti equalised from a well-taken freekick.
In the penlaties Roa lead Argentina to win with a outstanding performance and saved two shoots from Batty and Ince after Crespo missed one for Argentina. I was extremly happy after that game.
Then we had to play the Netherlands, the team that I hate the most (alongside Brasil ofcourse), they controlled the game and scored a lovely goal after Bergkamp and Kiluvert's one-two, then El Piojo equalised after beating the off-side trap and shooting the ball between Van Der Sar's legs :D. and then that bastard Bergkamp eliminated my dream in the 45th minute and scored the winner, I still get some "flashbacks" because of that goal. I was heartbroken and very sad, I didn't recover from that catastrophy until months after. This was another disappointment :(.
I pray that it won't happen again in Korea and Japan cos I really had it with failures and I want to win :mad:.
I mentioned all the happy and sad moments I lived in those world cups to show how desperate I am to win, I want my Argentina to kick ass in 15 days from now, I feel like its the time, we have a dream team at our disposal, great players all over Europe and South America, we fans need to win, the Argentine people need it to maybe boost their morale a bit between all the mess because of the economical crisis they're living. I really feel that our time has come and we can grap that freakin cup :mad2:.
Viva Argentina 2002 !! :smoking: :cool:
1990:
I don't remeber that tournament very well since I was a bit young at the time but I surely remeber the last two games against the Squadra Azzura and West Germany.
Italy had a great squad at that time, Schilaci was firing from all celenders, they were playing on their home soil and it was a very hard game, Ofcourse Schilaci scored first in the 17th minute, and later Caniggia equalised, Argentina had to play penalties to beat Italy where Goycoechea (Argentina's kepper back then) saved two penalties from Donadoni and Serena, while Argentina scored all their penalties to win over Italy and knock then out of the cup in their home country and infront of their own nation. In the same time West Germany also won over England and qualified for the final to gain the chance to take revenge of Maradona because of the world cup final in 1986.
In the final Maradona didn't play like usual, he was closely marked. while Pedro Monzon from Argentina made history as being the first player to be sent off in a world cup final for a tackle on Klinsman in the first half.
West German later earned a penalty when Sensini brought down Voller in the penalty area. Brehme scored that "dubious" penalty wide from the penalty saving specialist Goycoechea. Another Argentine was later sent off and West Germany outclassed Argentina and won the world cup, they left Maradona crying and Matthaus celebrating.. This was the first disappointment !
1994:
This world cup was the last chance for Maradona to show his skills to the world, the period between 1990-1994 was not very kind to Maradona: he was banned for drugs in Serie A after Napoli-Bari game in march 1991. Then he joined Sevilla in spain and went back to Argentina. but his thoughts always went to that cup in the USA, his desire was to finish his career with some "fireworks".
Argentina was in group D with Bulgaria, Nigeria and Greece. Argentina won against Greece 4-0 with diego scoring a beautiful goal, I still can't forget when he ran towards the camera and screamed something like "Here I am! I'm still the number one!", his game against Greece was incredible, Batigol scored a hatrick in that game :).
The second game was against Nigeria and Argentina won 2-1, after Nigeria scored first then Argentina faught back. Maradona was the man of the match. he made a great assist for Caniggia when Diego passed the ball to Claudio instead of shooting straight to the net, although Maradona was 34 years old at the time but he was still playing better than ever. "El Pibe de oro" was supeb in those two games and Argentina became the world cup favourite.
But all the sudden everything changed, Maradona was suspended to drug use (?), I can never forget Diego's tears, it was a sad day not only for Argentina but for the world of football. The whole NT was shocked and ofcourse it had a awful impact and them so we lost to Bulgaria and then beaten by Romania in the second round. Its like after what happened to Maradona all Argentina hopes were "gone with the wind".
And to add something about Maradona, just to see his picture kissing the world cup in 1986, and his "hand of god" :D and the historical second goal in England always gives me some joy. Gracias Diego, you are and you will always be the best ! :cool:
The 1994 world cup was the biggest disappointment for me after the awful thing that happened to Maradona ! :(
1998:
I and we all remember that Tournament very well, it was the first world cup to be held without Maradona since 1986, we had great players, Batigol and Lopez were lethal, Crespo was ready on the bench, we had great middlefield with the likes of Veron, Simeone and Ortega, and although our defence was a bit shaky but we had a great goalie to cover them, Carlos Roa !
We started our games in a worrying way after a hard game against Japan, but we recovered and thrashed Jamaica 5-0 with Ortega running the show and Batistuta scoring a hatrick, we played Croatia afterwards and beat them through Pinida's goal.
The hottest game in France 98 was without any doubt Argentina-England, I swear I almost got a heart-attack. When Bati scored I was thrilled, but then they scored two goals and I was devastated but luckily Zanetti equalised from a well-taken freekick.
In the penlaties Roa lead Argentina to win with a outstanding performance and saved two shoots from Batty and Ince after Crespo missed one for Argentina. I was extremly happy after that game.
Then we had to play the Netherlands, the team that I hate the most (alongside Brasil ofcourse), they controlled the game and scored a lovely goal after Bergkamp and Kiluvert's one-two, then El Piojo equalised after beating the off-side trap and shooting the ball between Van Der Sar's legs :D. and then that bastard Bergkamp eliminated my dream in the 45th minute and scored the winner, I still get some "flashbacks" because of that goal. I was heartbroken and very sad, I didn't recover from that catastrophy until months after. This was another disappointment :(.
I pray that it won't happen again in Korea and Japan cos I really had it with failures and I want to win :mad:.
I mentioned all the happy and sad moments I lived in those world cups to show how desperate I am to win, I want my Argentina to kick ass in 15 days from now, I feel like its the time, we have a dream team at our disposal, great players all over Europe and South America, we fans need to win, the Argentine people need it to maybe boost their morale a bit between all the mess because of the economical crisis they're living. I really feel that our time has come and we can grap that freakin cup :mad2:.
Viva Argentina 2002 !! :smoking: :cool: