Maradona '86 and The Opposition

I've been watching the Tuesday night Soccer 30 for 30's on ESPN, including these 2 most recent installments. Thirty minutes documentaries, complete with commercial breaks have to be pretty limiting. This was evidenced in the Maradona one which was little more than a highlight package that glossed over his run in the '82 and '86 World Cups. They are incredible highlights though. My one big complaint is what knucklehead decides to subtitle Maradona highlights?!? It's impossible to see all of the crazy stuff he does AND try to read the captioning. I found myself rewinding quite a bit. They should have reduced the volume on the original narrative and done a voice over instead so as to not distract from the action. The other takeaway is how ridiculous the announcing was during those World Cups. I don't know if those are Argentinian or Mexican announcers, but the stuff they were saying was crazy, especially by the broadcasting standards we are used to.

The Opposition was a much better documentary. While I was aware of the political event, I'd never heard the soccer story around it. I'm reluctant to open up this political can of worms other than to say this is one of those times that make me feel kinda embarrassed to be an American. It's about Chile's qualification for the '74 World Cup amid political turmoil. I thought the film glorified Allande a bit, but regardless, what happened was terrible. And big surprise, it serves as yet another example that shows FIFA to be (at best) a joke and/or (at worst) absolutely corrupt. While sad, it is a rather incredible story and a good glimpse into what wearing the colors can involve in developing/underdeveloped countries.

 

I missed this one but thanks for the summary, Ag. I'll record it and watch later this week. How is Maradona limited to 30 min, I cannot fathom? You could do 2 hours on that guy easily.

 

I was pretty underwhelmed by both of them, especially after Hillsborough. I did like the Opposition one more than the Maradona one, but neither was must see TV.

 

Highly talented, over-hyped, self-absorbed drug addict.

 

:lol:

Got the dvr set for tonight. Not familiar with the tragedy that happened during the Ireland/Italy 94' WC match.

 

Hope your dvr didn't suffer the same fate as mine. ESPN moved the documentaries to one of their other channels so all I got was Donald Sterling news instead. It's re-airing tonight at 9 (CT).

Surprised no one called Maradona a cheat, especially given the Hand of God goal that was featured in the piece.

Agree with Lax and I expect all of them will fall short of the bar set by the Hillsborough documentary. It doesn't help that the others only appear to be 30 minutes. But since I didn't come to follow soccer outside of a few World Cups until 2006, most of these stories are new to me.

 

My dvr suffered the same fate, and I missed the heads-up on the re-broadcast. Read the synopsis about the 94' WC and it looked like a bombshell of a documentary.