Diego Maradona
Write a paragraph of
your favorite football player. Or, A Football Player, you like most.
Diego
Maradona Diego Armando Maradona
was born on October 30, 1960, at the Polyplinico (Polyclinic) Abita Hospital in
Lanus, Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father's name was Diego
Maradona "Chitro" (died: 2015) and his mother's name was Dalma
Salvador Franco "Donia Tota" (1930–2011). They were both born and
raised in the northeastern city of Esquina, in the province of Corrientes, just
200 meters from each other on the banks of the Corriente River. They left
Esquina in 1950 and settled in Buenos Aires. Maradona moved with his family
from the province of Corrientes to Via Fiorito on the southern outskirts of
Buenos Aires, where he spent his childhood. He was the first son after the four
daughters of his parents. His two younger brothers, Ugo Maradona (El Turko) and
Raul (Lalo), were both professional footballers. At just eight years old,
Maradona was spotted by a talented scout playing at his neighboring club Estrea
Roha. He then joined the Buenos Aires-based football club Argentinos Juniors'
senior team Los Sebayitas (Small Onion) thanks to the scout. As a 12-year-old
ball boy, he delighted the spectators with his magical skill with the ball
during the break of the first half of the first division game. He cites
Brazilian creative Rivelino and Manchester United side Jorge Best as
inspirations to become football players in his childhood. Maradona made his debut
against Hungary on February 26, 1986. He represented Argentina at the FIFA
World Youth Championships in 1969 when he was 18 years old. Argentina became
the champion by defeating the Soviet Union 3–1 in the final of the competition.
On 2 June 1989, Maradona scored his first goal for the senior team against
Scotland. Maradona had played in
four successive World Cups for the Argentine national football team. Argentina
won in 1986 World Cup and was runner-up in 1990 World Cup. He is the only player to
have won the Golden Ball in both the FIFA U-20 World Cup (1989) and the FIFA
World Cup (1986). The first World Cup
competition of Maradona's career was the 1982 World Cup. In the opening match
of the competition, Argentina will face Belgium at the Camp Nou. Catalan
spectators were eager to see Maradona's newcomer to their club Barcelona, but
he failed to perform as well as expected. Argentina lost 1–0 to Belgium. In the
other two games of the group stage, Argentina won against Hungary and El
Salvador and reached the second stage. However, they lost to Italy and Brazil
in the second round and had to withdraw from the competition. Maradona was on
the field full time in all of Argentina's matches in the competition. He scored
two goals against Hungary, but was shown a red card for a foul five minutes
before the end of the game against Brazil. Maradona captained Argentina in the 1986
World Cup. Argentina defeated West Germany in the final of the competition and
became the champion. Maradona dominated throughout the competition. He was on
the field the whole time in every game in Argentina. He scored five goals
throughout the tournament and scored five more with teammates. He scored his
first goal of the tournament against Italy, Argentina's second in the group
stage. He proved himself to be a legend by scoring a pair of goals against
England in the quarter-finals.
In
1999, the Connex Foundation of Argentina awarded him the Diamond Connex Prize,
one of the most prestigious cultural awards in Argentina. He was given the
award for being Argentina's most important figure in the sport over the past
decade. In 2000, Maradona
published his autobiography, Yo Soy El Diego (I Diego), which gained
instant popularity in his home country. In
September 2006, Maradona captained Argentina in his famous blue-and-white No.
10 jersey. It was a three-day indoor World Cup competition. Diego Maradona died on
November 25, 2020 at his home in Tigre, Argentina. He had passed away at the
age of 80. He undertook a vital brain surgery at a hospital in Buenos Aires. Clots
clotted to the brain were removed. Finally, he returned home from the hospital
a month ago. ***** 
