Hosts: Mexico
Winners: Argentina
Competing teams: 24
Where were England? Cruising to the final before some small Argentinian bloke got involved
England fans will never admit it, but the 1986 World Cup was dominated by the brilliance of one man – Diego Armando Maradona.
The inspirational Argentina No10 was at the centre of virtually all the key moments in Mexico, scoring sublime goals, inspiring his team-mates all the way to the final, oh, and cheating.
Following FIFA’s decision to scrap the second group stage, the tournament had more of a sudden-death feel to it, although to start with only eight of the 24 teams were knocked out at the first group stage making the whole process seem quite laborious at times.
Maradona scored in the biggest game of the group stages as Argentina drew with reigning champions Italy, although both qualified from Group A.
There were few shocks elsewhere, again partly due to many of the teams who finished third in their group still going through. Both Northern Ireland and Scotland fell at the first hurdle.
England got off to a terrible start with a 1-0 defeat to Portugal and followed it up with a forgettable goalless draw against Morocco.
But in their do-or-die game against Poland, Gary Lineker scored a memorable hat-trick to send Bobby Robson’s side into the knockout stages.
Lineker scored two more in England’s next game as Paraguay were beaten 3-0, and there were goals galore elsewhere with Spain beating Denmark 5-1, Brazil knocking out Poland 4-0 and Belgium just edging out the Soviet Union in a seven-goal thriller.
The quarter-finals were much closer with three of the four games being decided on penalties.
The exception was, of course, England’s clash with Argentina at the Azteca Stadium. The game saw the two sides of Maradona as first he punched the ball past Peter Shilton to open the scoring before producing one of the tournament’s greatest ever goals as he slalomed his way through a bemused England defence.
Despite Lineker’s late effort and some heavy England pressure, the Argentines held on to send Robson’s side home.
France made up for their disappointment four years earlier by making the semi-finals after knocking out Brazil in another classic.
With the scores level at 1-1, the great Zico came on as a substitute and was immediately presented with a penalty to put his side ahead. But he missed, and Les Bleus went on to win a tense shootout.
Hosts Mexico’s hopes ended in the final eight when they went out to West Germany in a shootout following a goalless 120 minutes, while Belgium once again showed their potential by beating Spain 5-4 on penalties.
Maradona was again at the forefront in Argentina’s semi-final victory over the Belgians, scoring both goals in a devastating 11-minute period in the second-half. And they would face West Germany in the final, after they once again got the better of France.
All looked set for Argentina to claim their second crown in eight years when they took a 2-0 lead 10 minutes into the second half. But the Germans hit back and drew level through Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Rudi Voller.
But, just as the game appeared to be heading to extra time, Maradona put Jorge Burruchaga through and he slotted home to seal Argentina’s triumph.
Did you know? The 1986 tournament was scheduled to be held in Colombia, but the South Americans were forced to give up their chance after admitting they could not afford to host it.
