Maradona’s final World Cup goal before getting kicked out of tournament in 1994
One of the greatest athletes ever scored his last World Cup goal with the ‘Albiceleste’ at Foxboro Stadium before being expelled from the 1994 edition.
June 21, 1994, is a day that football will never forget, Diego Armando Maradona took the field as captain of an Argentina that included Fernando Redondo, Claudio Caniggia, Gabriel Batistuta, Diego Simeone and many more star players from a team looking for revenge after finishing runner-up in the last championship.
It was the World Cup debut of Argentina manager Alfio Basile and everything began in favor of the gaucho side, which had just reached the World Cup through a playoff against Australia after suffering one of the worst defeats in the history against a Colombia squad that featured ‘Pibe’, Asprilla and Rincón.
Argentina jumped out to the early lead over Greece with a brace from Batistuta, but what happened in the second half, only a player like Maradona could write; a play for history. It was the 60th minute and after a defensive rebound in the small area, Balbo took the ball to go back and deliver Redondo who made a wall with Diego in the half moon and then another string of passes with Caniggia; the Real Madrid midfielder gave the final pass so that ‘El Pelusa’ put the final blow with a left footed shot to the angle.
The celebration of the goal was such that it took the name of ‘El Grito’ or ‘The Scream’ and would be Maradona’s last breath in World Cups, at the end of the following game against Nigeria he was escorted to an anti-doping test and it was positive. He was expelled from the World Cup and Argentina did not win in the United States.