Maradona to play against England

Published September 8, 2007

LONDON, Sept 7: Diego Maradona and his 1986 World Cup-winning Argentina team mates have agreed to an unofficial rematch with their England counterparts.

The teams will meet at Villa Park in Birmingham on Oct 14 for a friendly meeting — more than 21 years after Maradona struck two of soccer’s most talked about goals for Argentina to win the quarterfinal match 2-1 in Mexico.

Maradona punched in the first goal — and then dubbed it the “Hand of God” — before scoring what is regularly voted the best goal in soccer history. He has been joined by players including former England captain Bryan Robson, Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle, Peter Reid and Ray Wilkins in confirming his participation.

“Everyone talks about the ‘Hand of God’ from this match,” Maradona said. “It was a bit of mischief ... after the goal, I was waiting for my team mates to embrace me and no one came.

“I told them, ‘come hug me or the referee isn’t going to allow it.’”—AP

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