[ti:Argentine Football Star Maradona Dies at 60]
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[00:00.04]Soccer star Diego Armando Maradona died on Wednesday.
[00:05.80]Maradona is said to have suffered a heart attack at his home
[00:10.24]in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
[00:13.56]He died less than one month after his 60th birthday.
[00:19.20]Maradona grew up in a poor area of Buenos Aires
[00:23.08]and led Argentina's national team to victory in the 1986 World Cup.
[00:30.76]However, he was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup for a drug violation.
[00:37.88]His career was cut short after years of drug use,
[00:41.72]overeating and alcoholism.
[00:45.44]In 2000, Maradona nearly died of heart failure
[00:49.52]caused by use of the drug cocaine.
[00:54.00]But he came back in 2008 to coach the Argentina national team.
[01:01.28]He was one of the most gifted players in the history of the sport.
[01:06.44]And, he was honored like a god for his skills with the football,
[01:11.96]as it is called in much of the world.
[01:16.04]In Argentina, he was called ‘El Dios', or The God in English.
[01:22.36]It is a play on words on his number 10 shirt,
[01:26.24]‘El Diez,' in the Spanish language.
[01:30.36]Some Argentinians consider Maradona the greatest football player ever,
[01:36.20]edging out Brazilian footballer, Pelé.
[01:40.56]Both were named FIFA Player of the Century in 2000.
[01:46.76]Maradona was largely responsible
[01:49.48]for Argentina's World Cup victory in 1986 in Mexico.
[01:55.92]He scored two famous goals in one game against England for a 2-1 victory.
[02:04.40]The first goal was scored with his fist
[02:07.40]but officials on the field did not see it.
[02:11.64]He later said, "It was partly by the hand of God
[02:15.84]and partly with the head of Maradona."
[02:20.28]Maradona then dribbled past half of England's team
[02:24.36]for his second goal of the game.
[02:27.52]It is often called the goal of the century.
[02:32.68]Born on October 30, 1960, in Buenos Aires,
[02:37.04]Maradona was the fifth of eight children of a factory worker.
[02:42.84]As a child, he slept with a football under his arm
[02:47.04]while his mother thought he would grow up to be an accountant.
[02:52.04]Maradona played for the Argentinos Juniors at the age of 15.
[02:57.92]Two years later, he just missed
[03:00.56]being a part of Argentina's 1978 World Cup team.
[03:06.72]In 1984, he joined the Italian team Napoli
[03:11.48]for a then world-record $7.5 million contract.
[03:17.40]He led the team to two Italian football championships.
[03:22.32]After the 1986 World Cup victory in Mexico,
[03:26.12]he also brought Argentina's national team
[03:28.76]to a World Cup final in Rome in 1990.
[03:34.04]But by 1991, drugs and alcohol began taking over his life.
[03:42.24]That year Maradona received a 15-month suspension
[03:46.80]from the sport for a drug violation.
[03:50.08]He was banned again for 15 months after a drug test
[03:54.80]at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
[04:00.04]Of his troubles, Maradona once said,
[04:03.08]"Football is the most beautiful and healthy sport in the world.
[04:07.80]It shouldn't have to pay for my mistakes. It's not the ball's fault."
[04:14.48]Maradona retired from professional football in 1997.
[04:20.28]After his near-death experience in 2000, he received treatment
[04:25.44]and spent some time with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
[04:30.72]From China to Europe, Argentinians found they could make friends
[04:35.80]just by mentioning Maradona's name.
[04:39.52]Some even created the Maradoniana Church with a saying
[04:44.64]"Make Diego your middle name and name your first son Diego."
[04:51.60]After hearing the news of Maradona's death,
[04:55.04]the football great Pelé told Reuters in a statement,
[04:59.00]"One day we'll kick a ball together in the sky above."
[05:04.56]I'm Jonathan Evans.
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