Diego Maradona for the winning goal in the final, ensuring that he would be remembered as one of the greatest names in football history. By the end of the World Cup, Maradona went on to win the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament by unanimous vote and was widely regarded to have won the World Cup virtually single-handedly, something that he later stated he did not entirely agree with. Zinedine Zidane, watching the 1986 World Cup as a 14 year old, stated Maradona “was on another level”. In a tribute to him, Azteca Stadium authorities built a statue of
History of the Argentina national football team World Cup. The team lost to Brazil 0–2 but beat Morocco 3–1 at Salta and smashed Israel 3–0 in Ramat Gan. Argentina debuted in the championship thrashing Greece 4–0 in Boston, with a hat-trick by Batistuta. Maradona also scored the third goal for Argentina, which would be his last goal in a World Cup. The national team played its second match against Nigeria again in Boston, which defeated by 2–1 (2 goals by Caniggia). At the end of the match, Argentina became a favorite to win the tournament, due to the attacking playing style showed by the squad (playing with