‘Hand of God’ cheat Maradona calls for ‘fair play’ at World Cup

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CAPE TOWN - Argentina coach Diego Maradona, infamous for the 1986 ‘Hand of God’ goal, has called for more fair play at the World Cup in South Africa.

Maradona had left England fans furious 24 years ago, but he now claims that he wants to see the game played by the book.

“We all want fair play. I understand that the ref may make a mistake, but when Javier Mascherano gets a card and the Korean player kicks out and gets nothing then sometimes as a coach you have doubts,” The Sun quoted Maradona, as saying.

“This is football, not kung-fu fighting. So I don’t think yet we’ve seen the fair play we want to see,” he added.

When asked how his handball in Mexico was compared to that of Brazil’s Luis Fabiano, who appeared to use his arm twice in his second goal in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Ivory Coast, Maradona said: “This one hit his arm. It’s pretty obvious, the ball even hit his arm twice.”

“The tragi-comic thing is the smile of the referee afterwards, I didn’t see the referee laugh after I scored the goal against England,” he added.

Argentina will play Greece in its final Group B game on Tuesday, where Maradona’s men would be happy pocketing a single point with a draw to emerge on the top of the group.

Though the 1-0 victory over Nigeria was seen as a disappointment from the Argentinians, they shaped up for the second match and thumped South Korea 4-1. (ANI)