"La Mano de Dios"

Argentina's Christian roots don't just encourage the people to wear a crucifix, attend church meetings, or offer daily prayers. Believe it or not, these roots are also helpful for soccer matches! Or such was the case in a World Cup match in 1986 between Argentina and bitter rival England. The two had been soccer rivals for many years, and rivals in other senses for many decades. England has had an interesting history in Argentina, trying many times to impose various forms of economic clout on the resource-rich country after Spain was kicked out in the early 1800s. It also didn't help that Argentina invaded (and were kicked out of) the United Kingdom–owned Falkland Islands (near Argentina) in 1982. On top of this, the two teams were very skilled. Argentina had probably the best player of the era (and arguably of all time): Diego Maradona [deeaay-go mar-a-doe-nah]. All of this led to a fiesty soccer game in Mexico City in 1986.

Argentina won the game 2 to 1 (and eventually won that year's World Cup), but the game was not without both controversy and brilliance on the part of Maradona. The first of his two goals was apparently knocked in with his hand, which is illegal in soccer. The referee didn't say anything while the Englishmen were very upset. Argentines call this la mano de Dios [lah mah-no dey diose], or "the hand of God." This reference to divine help—or perhaps the illegal use of the hand by Maradona, a literal soccer god to many Argentines—has stuck to the play ever since. Check out this picture; the illegal move is quite obvious.


Later in the game, however, came the brilliance and amazing talent of Maradona. In what many people call the greatest goal in World Cup history, Maradona took the ball from more than half a field away from the goal, dribbled past essentially the entire English team (including some men more than once), and scored the difference-making goal. Here are videos of the goals individually. The first is la mano de Dios. The second is perhaps the greatest goal ever. This game, and the story of la mano de Dios, attest to the importance of soccer in culture (including religion!) in Argentina and its people's identity.