9781422278291

SIDEBAR: TOP 10 GOAL SCORERS IN ARGENTINA NATIONAL TEAM HISTORY

PLAYER

CAPS

GOALS

Lionel Messi*

118

58 54 35 34 34 31 24 23 22 22

Gabriel Batistuta Hernán Crespo Diego Maradona Sergio Agüero* Gonzalo Higuain* Daniel Passarella Leopoldo Luque José Sanfilippo Luis Artime

77 64 91 82 68 25 70 45 29

* - active

Argentina was defending champion in Spain in 1982 with Passerella and Kempes returning, but this Argentina squad featured 21-year-old phenom Maradona. As Argentina awards jersey numbers alphabetically, Maradona wore the number 10 jersey. With the World Cup now expanded to 24 teams, La Albiceleste opened with a 1–0 loss to Belgium, but in game two against Hungary, Maradona began to write his World Cup story. He scored twice, playing beside Kempes in a 4–1 win. Argentina then beat El Salvador to finish second in the group and advance. The second round now had four groups of three teams, with only the group winners advancing. Argentina drew in with the powerful Brazilians and Italians, and lost both matches to end its tournament. By 1986 in Mexico, Maradona was one of the world’s best players and had been named captain of La Albiceleste. Kempes and Passarella had retired, and the fiery Maradona was the face of the team. Argentina opened Group A play with an easy 3–1 win over South Korea. Match two was against defending champion Italy, and Maradona scored the goal in a 1–1 draw. A 2–0 win over Bulgaria gave Argentina the

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