While World Cups can offer great drama and create legends, there is often also a Star-Wars-like dark side to them - moments of controversy or violence that remain blots on the beauty of the tournament long after they happened.
One of the best players - some would say the best - ever to grace the World Cup stage was Argentina´s Maradona, El Pibe. He played in four world Cups, from 1982 in Spain to 1994 in the USA, scoring a total of eight goals. In 1994, he failed a drug test after a win against Nigeria and was thrown out.
But his glory tournament was 1986 in Mexico, helping Argentina to lift the trophy. In the quarter-final against England, he scored one of the best goals ever seen, anywhere, taking the ball from his own half and dribbling past what seemed like the whole of the England team to finally slot the ball past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
It was his first goal that day, however, that will go down as one of the most outrageous acts of truth-bending in World Cup history. Not the tallest of players at 1m68, Maradona challenged Shilton, 1m85, to a high ball that had ballooned up off England's Steve Hodge from a Jorge Valdano cross. The only way Maradona could possibly beat Shilton to the ball would be to use his hand ... which is precisely what he did, tapping the ball over Shilton and into the goal. The Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser, struck by a momentary attack of myopia, gave the goal amidst incredulous protests from the England players. Argentina would go on to win 2-1.
After the game, Maradona famously claimed that the goal had been scored: "a little bit by the hand of God, another bit by the head of Maradona". But six years later, in his autobiography, he admitted to something a little less holy: "At the time I called it 'the hand of God'. Rubbish! ... it was the hand of Diego!"
From bending the truth of the game by sleight of hand, we move on to bending the bones of others.
In the last World Cup, Portugal arrived in South Korea with the clear idea that they could win the thing. They had received a heroes' send-off at Lisbon airport, and the president of the Portuguese Football Federation had told them: "Bring that Cup back!" "Not getting past the first phase would be abject failure," said Luís Figo, rather prophetically as it turned out.
The optimism was perhaps warranted: the Portuguese side still contained the nucleus of the 'Golden Generation' that had made the Selecção a world force in the previous decade, with the likes of Figo, Rui Costa, Vítor Baía and João Pinto in the squad.
It was the latter who would put an infamous cherry on the cake of Portugal's demise in the final group game against Championship hosts South Korea.
Portugal had started the group disastrously, fatally underestimating the USA and losing 2-3. It looked like they had found their way by beating Poland 4-0 in the second game, but it was not to be.
Against South Korea, having to win or draw, Portugal struggled to make headway, and in a moment of wild frustration, João Pinto committed an awful foul on Park Ji-sung and saw a straight red card.
Not content with the ignominy of being sent off in a World Cup, the hot-tempered forward, backed up by a band of irate Portuguese players, rushed up to the referee, the Argentinian Angel Sanchez, and punched him in the stomach.
João Pinto rightfully received a lengthy ban from FIFA and never donned a Portuguese shirt again. Portugal lost the game 0-1 and returned home to face the music.
If João Pinto's spontaneous act of violence was shocking, another one twenty years earlier would have been watched from behind the sofa if we had only had warning that it was coming.
In the semi-final between Germany and France, the unfolding, nail-biting drama of the football was overshadowed by a malicious challenge from German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher on French substitute Patrick Battiston, who was chasing a through ball from Michel Platini. Battiston was knocked out cold and had to be stretchered off, while Schumacher coolly did some stretching exercises on the edge of the area.
The referee, apparently suffering the same ailment as referee Ali Bin Nasser in the 'Hand of God' incident in 1986, gave neither a red card nor a free kick for that horrific foul. At the time the game stood at 1-1 and would finish that way. Into extra time, France would go 3-1 up, only to see Germany pull it back and win on penalties.
A classic game, then, but with the shine taken off it by a moment of viciousness. In the final, Germany were to lose 3-1 to Italy. The hand of God at work again?
If you would like to practise your English, try the following activites:
Choosing which countries are mentioned in the text (easy)
Matching events and the years they occurred (easy/medium)
Matching words with their antonyms (opposites) (medium)
Do you remember any controversial games or incidents from World Cups? Write and let us know.
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