There’s a tendency when you write about the past — yes, even in Distant Replay — to think people or things were better back in your era. Sometimes they were, sometimes not.
The 2002 World Cup final breathed more life into a long-standing debate that’s relatively new to casual sports fans who were glued to the TV last weekend.
Diego Maradona versus Lionel Messi.
Who’s better? Who’s the Greatest Of All Time?
Perhaps that better-in-my-time philosophy prompted a one-time Maradona teammate, Osvaldo Ardiles, to say Messi will never be as good. He said referees didn’t call as many fouls then; hence, Maradona fought through more brutal tackles 36 years ago, when he led Argentina to its last World Cup title until Sunday. (Trivia: the only two World Cups featuring Canada were won by Argentina, and France was favoured.)
I was at the 1986 World Cup, Maradona’s moment, but never saw him play. I was in Mexico for Canada’s games, and the Canadian team was far from where Argentina played, geographically and in every other way. Maradona, 25 and the most dominant player in the world’s most dominant game, was in his prime.
He played in four World Cups and won once. This was Messi’s fifth World Cup, and first win. There were other similarities. Both wore No. 10, usually reserved for the most prolific goal scorer. Both were captains. As teenagers, both won the World Under-20’s Golden Ball Trophy (tournament’s best player), both won it again at the World Cup, and now Messi is the only two-time winner. Both were predominantly left-footed strikers with the ball seemely an extension of their toes. Both played with Barcelona and set transfer-fee records. Both were small — Maradona 5’5” and Messi 5’7”.
For all their similarities, there are many differences.
Maradona, who died two years ago at 60, was a combative player who was labelled “half angel, half devil” by the French. He frequently supported socialist dictators like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. He was so loved in Barcelona they named babies after him, until an ugly fight in a game turned fans against him and he was sold to Napoli. Twice, he was suspended from “football” after failing cocaine tests. In 1986, he scored a controversial goal with his fist and credited the play to the “Hand of God.”
Messi is mild by comparison, inspiring Argentinians with just skills and goals. He scored almost three times as many goals for Argentina as Maradona (98 to 34) in fewer than twice as many games (172 to 91). He won many more individual trophies, including an unprecedented seven Ballon d’Or awards as Europe’s best player. He met his wife when they were five, in a small town in Central Argentina, and they have three sons. He’s the first player from his sport to earn a billion dollars, with more on the way now, yet he seems as humble and kind as a billionaire can be. He went to Haiti during an earthquake, has a foundation for disadvantaged children world-wide and was involved in providing COVID vaccines for a remote place in Uruguay that had none.
They still call Maradona “The Golden Boy.” Maybe that will be a debate for the ages, too.
