In 2017, two of the biggest stars in football history were seen together in Moscow. There was an opportunity, a year after that, for the drawing program to be held in Russia.
It was hard to imagine that such a big star football would be like this. Pele remained active even after retiring from active playing life. He remained the sponsor’s darling. Maradona never knew how to speak diplomatically. However, he remained very popular among supporters. In the last World Cup in 2018, he was seen dancing with opposition supporters. Also, when Argentina scored a last-minute goal against Nigeria in St. Petersburg, Maradona saluted by raising the middle fingers of both hands.
Read Also: World Cup 2022: Fixtures, dates, venues and times
In 1958, Pele lifted the World Cup trophy for the first time. Since then, when the 22nd edition of the World Cup comes, these two big stars will not be seen in Qatar. Maradona died in 2020. So he won’t look like that.
Due to health problems, Pele will not go to Qatar. Supporters will be able to feel the two stars in Qatar, as their World Cup matches will be replayed on giant TV screens. It will include Pele’s third World Cup win in 1970, and Maradona’s handball goal in 1986. Along with Maradona’s next great goal. That goal against England is called the goal of the century.
Maradona is not the only big star to leave this world recently. Two weeks after his death, another great player passed away. He was Paulo Rossi from Italy. He scored 6 goals in the 1982 World Cup. Italy was the unbelievable champions at the tournament in Spain. He scored a hat-trick against Brazil. By August, world football had also lost Gerd Müller.
He scored a record 68 goals for West Germany. With his goal, West Germany defeated the Netherlands in the 1974 World Cup final in Munich. As Maradona and Rossi remind us, their characters are even more famous in world football. Maradona’s goal is even more famous than his next-best goal. He became an even bigger villain when the 1994 World Cup came around.
He was sent home after failing a drug test. Rossi was caught in the ‘match-fixing case. He was included in the Italian team for the 1982 World Cup. It just goes to show, some players can be villains at times. But those same players are not the biggest heroes. Maybe, some people in Qatar don’t like Karim Benzema, Bukayo Saka, Lionel Messi, or Neymar at all. But he can create new history at the World Cup like Maradona, Muller, and Rossi.