"There was a pause of play as Pedro
Throlligo was put down. The Argentine physio Lorenzo was treating him and the players decided to take water to quench their thirst. Branco asked for a new
water bottle from the Argentine physio. Diego Maradona allegedly convinced the Argentinean
staff to douse Branco’s water bottle with tranquilizers. Branco drank that
water"
Any sports are meant to be played with passion and fairly.
Be it in cricket or soccer or basketball; cheating is quite unacceptable. They
not only pollute the game but at the same time, send a bad message to the
fans, especially the young followers, who watch the game with a huge amount of
respect. But sports have always been polluted through cunning activities,
which are glorified by some and hated by millions out there.
You can term that cheating as “Hand of God” or anything
“Holy (?),” but deep down, I don’t think, your conscience allows you to provide mental peace, while you keep on arguing about a goal scored by hand.
Surely, you don’t play football with your hands. Nor, do you reverse the ball
by using foreign substances nor do you win a hundred-meter race in the Olympics
by taking banned drugs.
In the history of the FIFA World Cup, there have been many
controversial incidents. To specific, cheating incidents. Such incidents, over
the years, have created enough furor and heated arguments among the fans and
critics, and still today, those incidents trigger anger among the fans.
The fourteenth FIFA World Cup was staged in Italy. According
to critics, the quality of football played in that World Cup was not up to the
mark. The teams adopted a defensive approach and they concentrated more on
guarding their own penalty area rather than scoring goals. Most of the knockout
matches were decided through penalty shootouts and even though teams like
Brazil, Holland, England, and Italy possessed attacking players, surprisingly,
they remained unconvincing in front of the goal.
Only West Germany provided the spark with their wing-backs,
libero, midfield and forwards, but it also waned as the tournament progressed.
Italia 90 not only witnessed some defensive exhibition of
football but at the same time, few of the matches were marred by controversies.
Turin, June 24, 1990: The enthusiasm among football
fans all over the world was enormous as two of world football’s most beloved
teams Argentina and Brazil met each other in the round of 16.
Argentina were the reigning world champions, but their
journey in the Italia 90 started with a shocking defeat against Cameroon at San
Siro and a scratchy draw against Romania ensured their qualification for the
second round. In the group stage game against the then USSR, Argentina’s most
experienced goalkeeper got injured and a new chap named Sergio Goykocechea was
given the responsibility to take care of the Argentine goalpost.
The Argentine team lacked the spark of Mexico in 1986. Injuries
and lack of form among the players made the Argentine team very fragile, but
what they did have someone's cleverness and brilliance of acting which the
others didn’t have and he was none other than Diego Armando Maradona, whose
cunning ideas proved instrumental in Argentina’s progression in the tournament.
Whereas, the Brazilian side was confident enough to face
Maradona's men. Even though this Brazilian side was not up to the mark as the
previous World Cups, they still managed to win all their group games and
qualified for the knockout stages as the group leaders.
On a warm afternoon at Turin, the Brazilians started
brightly – Careca burst into the scene in the opening minutes by cutting
through the Argentine defence with a brilliant solo run but shot fractionally
wide. Moments later, Careca again failed to get a touch to a corner that flew
across the face of goal. Then a Dunga header rebounded back off a post.
With Carlos Dunga and Alemao in total command in the
midfield, Argentina's players were finding the going tough. Neither Maradona
nor his men could get control over the ball.
The first-half ended goallessly. The second half was, as
usual, the display of Brazil’s misses – twice they hit the bar. Still, in the second half, the Argentines were looking helpless as Brazil dominated.
Diego Maradona was under the strict supervision of Brazilian
left-back Branco. He was contained effectively and was hardly allowed to let
free. Even when Maradona tried to set free, he was body-checked to the ground
by Branco and the Brazilian holding midfielders.
Diego Maradona decided to take matters into his own hands to stop Branco.
There was a pause of play as Pedro Throlligo was put down.
The Argentine physio Lorenzo was treating him and the players decided to take water
to quench their thirst. Branco asked for a new water bottle from the Argentine
physio. Diego Maradona allegedly convinced the Argentinean staff to douse
Branco’s water bottle with tranquilizers. Branco drank that water.
The game began.
But Branco started to feel sluggish and was unable to
contain Maradona. Maradona was set free and with just ten minutes remaining in
the match he made a brilliant solo run from the right side – usually, most of
his moves occur from the left side – to give Claudio Caniggia a sublime pass
which he sent into the Brazilian nets by rounding-up the goalkeeper Taffarel:
Argentina 1 Brazil 0!
Brazil’s World Cup dreams were shattered. Tears were shed;
plenty of gloomy faces were around as the Samba boys were left stunned by one
man’s brilliance and cunning idea. Argentina had won the match, but it was not
in the fairest of ways.
Later on, Branco claimed that the bottle of water given to
him by the Argentine coaching staff was fishy. Branco threatened to sue the
Argentine officials. There had been an angry response to Branco’s allegations
from the Argentine officials and press, but after almost 15 years in a
television show, Maradona agreed that Branco was given a bottle of water mixed
with tranquilizers.
The press was shocked! The world was shocked!
Maradona’s confession triggered anger among the Brazilian
fans and players of Italia 90.
Regarding the incident, Argentine coach Carlos Bilardo said,
“I don’t know anything about it, but I cannot deny the incident”. According to
a journalist, Bilardo checked himself after saying such. Even though, Bilardo
and that controversial physio, Lorenzo denied such allegations and criticized
the press.
Though Bebeto said, “If Lorenzo denied such allegations,
then he lied as he confessed such to me”.
Coach Lazaroni said, “This can’t be a part of sportsmanship,
but it’s a dirty game. It doesn’t matter whether it was fourteen years
ago or fourteen days ago, FIFA should punish the offenders. Who can assure that
Argentina won’t do the same with other teams”?
The Brazil Football Federation decided to take legal
action, but the secretary-general of CBF Ricardo Texeira, later on, stepped
back as taking legal action wouldn’t help to change the result.
Diego Maradona’s cheating helped Argentina yet again to
reach the finals, but justice can be delayed, but not denied. In the finals,
Maradona and his boys tasted his own medicine and since Italia 90, Argentina
still could not win a World Cup.
Since then, this saga is known as the “Holy Water’ scandal.
