Maradona inspiration for Argentine side

Press, 18 June 1986, Page 42

Maradona inspiration for Argentine side

NZPA-Reuter Puebla Argentina, inspired by a virtuoso performance by its little wizard, Diego Maradona, won the World Cup showdown against its South American rival, Uruguay, yesterday through a first-half goal by the striker, Pedro Pasculli.

The Argentines, world champions in 1978, now move to the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City for a quarter-final meeting on Saturday with either England or Paraguay who play their second round match tomorrow morning. Maradona was in brilliant form, tantalising the Uruguayan defence with his breathtaking skills. He also came desperately close to scoring, hitting the bar with a wickedly-dipping free kick in the first half and having a goal disallowed in the second. But for all Maradona’s brilliance, it was a match marred as a spectacle by

64 free kicks as the Italian referee, Luigi Agnolin, blew up for almost everything in a bid to prevent a repetition of Uruguay’s brutal encounter with Scotland. He could not prevent a personal feud developing between the Uruguayan striker, Enzo Francescoli, and the Argentine defender, Oscar Garre, which earned them two of the seven bookings in the game. The match ended in near farce as driving rain, thunder and lightning made play almost impossible. The conditions may have accounted for Pasculli making a terrible

nonsense of trying to score when he broke clear in the dying moments but dribbled the ball into the arms of the goalkeeper, Fernando Alvez.

Pasculli, though, made no such error in the fortysecond minute when he scored the game’s only goal. Argentina launched a move down the right. The ball was driven into the area where the Uruguayan defender, Eduardo Acevedo, misread the challenge of the striker, Jorge Valdano, and hit the ball into the path of Pasculli, who guided the ball home from six metres. The goal came after constant Argentine pres-

sure with Maradona carving openings on both sides of the Uruguayan defence. Maradona, closely marked by his opposing captain, Jorge Barrios, made one brilliant run after only 10 minutes but his pinpoint centre was wasted by Valdano. Ten minutes later he hit the bar with a thunderous 30m free kick which left Alvez hopelessly beaten. Maradona, though pulled down heavily at least three times during the game, was not the victim of the cynical fouls seen in Argentina’s first phase games. The Uruguayans changed their tactics in the second half and substituted the Atletico Madrid striker, Jorge da Silva, for Wilmar Cabrera in an unavailing bid to get the equaliser. As the torrential rain beat down, both Ruben Paz and Enzo Francescoli went close but they struggled in vain and lost to the 1978 world cup winner.