(Updated) Maradona’s Revenge?

Edit/Update:

It seems that Maradona still remembers that tackle, twenty-four years later.

The game was a reminder of the group opener in Mexico City 24 years ago, with Maradona saying he clearly remembered what happened at that time and complained about Huh’s tackle hurting his thigh during that game.

Huh’s aggression toward Maradona caused the Argentinean star to writhe in pain in the game, where the South American team eased to a 3-1 win.

“He wasn’t playing football, it was more like taekwondo,” Maradona, 49, said of Huh at a press conference ahead of the match.

“I didn’t kick him intentionally,” Huh said of the incident in response. “If I had done taekwondo then I’m sure the referee would have pulled out a yellow card.

[ snip ]

The pain from the kick is gone, but the scar may still remain in his memory as Maradona linked the issue to Thursday’s game.

“If South Korea mistreats us, Messi or Higuain, it will be a yellow card and then off they go,” said the Argentinean. “We have come to play football. Anyone who doesn’t want to play football should go home.”

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Original Post:

Thanks to An Acorn in the Dog’s Food, I discovered the interesting fact that Diego Maradona and Huh Jung-moo (the coaches of the Argentinian and South Korean teams) have met before, as players, in the 1986 World Cup. As you can see from the (cropped) picture below, Maradona got the worst end of one of their encounters, so Argentina’s 4-1 victory this past Thursday must have been sweet. (You can see the original picture at Acorn.)