Butcher says he will never forgive Maradona
18/11/2008 17:58
Former England defender Terry Butcher said yesterday that he would not
forgive Diego Maradona for his 'Hand of God' goal ahead of their meeting in an
international friendly.
Maradona is in Glasgow set to take charge of the
Argentine national team for the first time in a friendly against Scotland at
Hampden Park tomorrow.
But Butcher, now Scotland's assistant coach, will not
join the welcome committee for the football great, whose infamous goal led to
England's 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the 1986 World Cup quarter- final in
MexiCo
"I'll never forgive him. It's not nice to lose a World Cup
quarterfinal under those circumstances," Butcher told Sky Sports.
"It's not
that a day has passed without me thinking about that moment. I'm not that sad. I
mean, I don't have a Maradona doll with pins in it, although, come to think of
it, that could be a good idea. I might get one."
Butcher said what irritated
him is that Maradona still did not tell the truth after the match rather than
the Argentine punched in the ball to begin England's elimination.
"He came
into the drugs room celebrating. Not speaking Spanish, I gestured to him to ask,
'Head or hand?" and he touched his head to suggest he had done nothing
wrong.
"That irritated me even more. If he'd come in and said he's used his
hand and apologized, I'd probably have hit him just four or five times instead
of the usual twenty.
"What really irks is his behaviour for so long
afterwards, when he didn't admit it," Butcher said.
Butcher, who was
initially surprised by the 48-year-old's appointment, now sees a certain sense
in the South American nation's choice.
"My first reaction to the Maradona
appointment was surprise, but you can see the logic in it," he
said.
"Argentina are only fourth in their qualifying group, they haven't been
playing particularly well and possibly needed somebody to unite the whole
country. Which is what Maradona will do.
"It won't be about tactics with
Maradona. It's the personality, the man. You can sense it working against us on
tomorrow, because every Argentine player will be saying, 'I'm going to prove to
you that I deserve to be part of the future under you'."
Xinhua
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