Goal of the Century

The Goal of the Century, also known as "Greatest Goal in FIFA World Cup History", was an award given for the greatest goal ever scored in a FIFA World Cup finals. It was decided by a poll on the FIFA website http://www.fifaworldcup.com, as part of the coverage of the {{Wc | 2002}} tournament.

Related Topics:
Goal - FIFA World Cup - Poll - FIFA - Website

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The winning goal was the second goal by Diego Maradona in the {{Wc|1986}} quarter-final match, for Argentina against England on June 22 1986, at the Azteca stadium, Mexico City; it came shortly after Maradona's infamous Hand of God goal. Nine minutes into the second half, Héctor Enrique passed the ball to Maradona some ten meters inside his own half. Maradona then began his 60 meter, 10 second dash towards the English goal, dodging five English outfield players (Hoddle, Reid, Sansom, Butcher and Fenwick) as well as goalkeeper Peter Shilton to make the score 2-0 to Argentina. Gary Lineker scored a goal for England 25 minutes later, but England were unable to equalise and Argentina won 2-1.

Related Topics:
Diego Maradona - Argentina - England - June 22 - 1986 - Azteca stadium - Mexico City - Hand of God goal - Héctor Enrique - Hoddle - Reid - Sansom - Butcher - Fenwick - Peter Shilton - Gary Lineker

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About the goal, Maradona said, "I made the play to give it to Valdano, but when I got to the area they surrounded me and I had no space. Therefore, I had to continue the play and finish it myself." A statue of Maradona immortalizing the moment has been erected outside the stadium.

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Recently, Maradona said he couldn't have scored such a beautiful goal if it hadn't been against the honest English team, who didn't knock him down as most defenses used to do. "They are probably the noblest in the world," he added.

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