The Football Boots of MARADONA

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Released” could mean “launched,” but I don’t think adidas had moulded studs model with kangaroo leather yet in 1979. The video of Diego Maradona's warm-up routine ahead of Napoli's UEFA Cup semifinal second leg against Bayern Munich in 1989 -- which happened 31 years ago last Sunday -- is as fresh today as it was then. The music starts -- "Live is Life," by Opus -- and he starts to shimmy. For a moment, Antonio Careca, his strike partner at Napoli, does too. You expect that from Careca: he's Brazilian. But then he stops and keeps stretching, which is also not surprising. A bit of fun, a bit of flash for the cameras and then off to work. The Argentinian legend led his country to World Cup glory in 1986 following his infamous ‘hand of god’ against England. He would score two contrasting goals in the quarter-final. The first with his hand and the second, which has been voted the greatest goal in the history of the tournament. Maradona led Argentina to another World Cup Final in 1990, losing to West Germany 1-0. He was sent home in the 1994 competition after a failed drug test. Maradona would go on to coach his beloved Argentina in 2008. Valdano, a man more inclined to read books than dance with fate, said of the rituals: "I am very respectful of personal superstitions but I am bothered by collective ones. At the end of the championship we had so many it was like a play that had been performed a thousand times." The captain Maradona never forgave

Original Diego Maradona Football Walk of Famebronze plaque inscribed Diego Maradona, Argentina and with applied signature by artist Paul Trevillion, Just one look at the King Diego Finale will tell you Puma haven't had too much of a radical overhaul. But then when you have a boot that has enjoyed success for over forty years, you don't necessarily need to tamper with a winning formula. The famed high levels of craftsmanship and quality return, with an even softer full grain leather upper and some nice re-design touches improving the boot. The SUPER CUP is now a very rare model due to its short production period, but there were more complicated models abroad as shown below. But where the likes of the Adidas Predator and the Nike Mercurial Vapor have flourished, the PUMA King has failed to follow suit. In December of 2019, a listicle published by popular online football publication SoccerBible ranked what were they believed to be the greatest 30 boots of the last decade. Naturally, subjectivity plays its part, but there was a notable omission: despite new models, the famed PUMA King failed to make the cut. The current model of adidas COPA MUNDIAL was improved around 1994 and has been produced with little change up to the present.Argentina's technical assistant Ruben Moschella and kit man Tito Benros were then charged with trawling around Mexico City to find a shirt suitable to play a World Cup quarter-final in. They narrowed it down to two, the first a similar colour to the existing kit and another in a brighter blue. Recently, an overseas football boots enthusiast wrote an article here, which included the following The time between the Uruguay game and the quarter-final against England seemed like an eternity but, in the end, the Argentina squad were relieved to have had the break. But look closer. Maradona is wearing his top differently. It looks like he's taken a spare set of shoelaces and cinched them around his waist like a makeshift belt.

When they returned to their base the players held hands and took a lap of honour around the training ground.In the 1982 tournament, Tardelli used the old “WORLD CUP” model with the changeable studs model with Adi Super Sole for all games, but if someone unfamiliar with the football boots of the time were to look at images from the 1982 World Cup tournament, it might indeed appear that many players were wearing adidas COPA MUNDIAL. The Club America residential quarters near the Azteca stadium contained one telephone for the entire squad and one television, situated in the dining room. On arrival, players had to fit the shades on to the lamps in their unfinished rooms. There were rooms some 100 metres away from the players' quarters where four had to stay in conditions that made the rest of the facility look good. By the ’80s, the boot was having an equally profound impact off the pitch, too. Lothar Matthäus, the talismanic German midfielder with 150 caps to his name and whose father had worked at the nearby Puma factory when Lothar was a child, was initially hesitant to sign to Bayern Munich (whose technical supplier was Adidas) from Borussia Mönchengladbach if it meant he was no longer permitted to wear his beloved PUMA brand. He gave me the best pass of my career, the way only he can," said Burruchaga. "I drew strength from I don't know where to run those last metres."

But in the summer of '86, when he stepped on to the balcony at Casa Rosada with the World Cup in his hands - the same balcony from which Argentina's former first lady Eva Peron had delivered her famous speech to her "beloved descamisados" [the poor] - Diego Armando Maradona knew that he had finally achieved his dream. Had he not been booked early on in the game for fouling Maradona he would almost certainly have obstructed him outside the box rather than just brushing an arm across his stomach as he made his way ever closer to Shilton's goal. The advancing Maradona jumped for it first. In the air he shaped his body as if about to head the ball, then a fist thrust out and punched, sending it bouncing slowly into the open net.In terms of facilities provided for the teams, the Mexico World Cup was about as modest as it could be. Those available to the Argentine side were more akin to the primitive, underdeveloped infrastructure they had to deal with in their homeland rather than what might be expected of the biggest football competition on the planet. Pumahas been worn by very important players such as Pele, Cruyff or Maradona. For the last one, the brand has decided to pay him a tribute by creating a remake of the Puma King, the boots he worn during his professional career. The design is outstanding, and will probably become a collector´s item for many fans of theArgentinian player.

The Plaques:There are 30 (thirty) commemorative plaques each featuring exclusive images by leading sports artist Paul Trevillion of iconic international players and a collection of the complete England 1966 World Cup winning team. When Diego Maradona waltzed through the England defence on 22nd June 1986, he was already a household name. That match in the Aztec Stadium seared his name into football’s psyche. And onto the inner of the Puma King Maradona Super, with a diagram of the virtuoso moment.In ninety minutes, he was the good, bad and ugly of football. The second goal ( il buono), the handball ( il cattivo), and grotesque celebrations ( il brutto). It was a toxic, febrile atmosphere stoked up by the media - the Falklands War still fresh in minds - that guaranteed this was never going to be just another game. Mr Nolan added: “And people get nostalgic. That’s why people buy memorabilia, they’re nostalgic about all these items. Everyone has something that they absolutely adore and hero worship. And if that person is gone, well then the next best thing is to own something from their life and career.” Ex-Tottenham and Argentina midfielder Ossie Ardiles said: "Thank dear Dieguito for your friendship, for your football, sublime, without comparison. Simply, the best football player in the history of football. So many enjoyable moments together. Impossible to say which one was the best. RIP my dear friend."SUPER CUP replica (left) and early COPA MUNDIAL model. The SUPER CUP and WINNER were in Adi-calf leather, and, to repeat, the COPA MUNDIAL was the first adidas moulded studs model with kangaroo leather upper at the time. Same with Kobe Bryant, Maradona, (Alfredo) Di Stefano, anyone that’s gone, these legends, their value soars after that because they’re no longer signing stuff. There’s a finite number of items out there once they’re gone.” Maradona's response was predictably acidic. "He didn't invite me, true - oh, my heart bleeds! How many people go to a goalkeeper's testimonial anyway? A goalkeeper's?!" Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and others to bring you the latest highlights and debate the biggest storylines. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S. only).