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Dirty Tackle - World Soccer

Dirty Tackle

Thu May 12 04:24pm EDT

Maradona with a nice free kick and a comical dive in Chechnya

By Brooks Peck

Diego Maradona led a World XI team of retired greats against a "president's XI" captained by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Grozny on Wednesday. Maradona wore the armband and played alongside the likes of Luis Figo, Franco Baresi, and Steve McManaman in a match for which officials claimed the former footballers were not paid, despite there being no other possible explanation for their presence.

From the AP:

The hosts won 5-2 in an often comical match that featured out-of-shape players and sportingly inept officials. The thousands of local fans who turned out in the rain were treated to one moment of Maradona magic, however, when the 1986 World Cup winner knocked in a free kick from the edge of the penalty area.

You can see Maradona's free kick along with his ridiculously melodramatic dive in the video above. Actually, it looks more like a pratfall than a dive, which leads us to believe that since his physical ability isn't what it used to be, Maradona is trying to find new ways to entertain the crowds on the pitch. And it seems all that entertaining left him so tired that he couldn't even eat his meal on the plane the next day...

Goodnight, sweet prince.

Video via 101gg; Phot0: Ian McGarry

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