R.I.P. Diego Maradona

Watching UEFA Europa League match between Napoli and Rijeka and all the Spanish speaking announcers are talking about is Diego Maradona or when he played for the club.....

 

Moving picture...Pelé visiting Diego Maradona’s gravesite.....

 

Here is a memory of Diego's only trip to San Jose when Napoli played UNAM PUMAS in an exhibition game at Spartan Stadium in 1985....

Courtesy of San Jose History page, in memory of Diego Maradona’s passing, here is a program of the game between UNAM PUMAS of Mexico City and Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, Italy that took place on April 5th 1985 at Spartan Stadium in San Jose.

The old North American Soccer League or NASL had just folded weeks earlier and that was the circuit that featured soccer's biggest superstar's and they all came and played at Spartan from 1974 -84 to play against the San Jose Earthquakes.

With the league gone, the game was an unknown and none of us knew if the soccer would just disintegrate into oblivion or continue on. Former Quakes and future SJ MLS Clash GM Peter Bridgwater decided to field a Quakes amateur team of mostly American born players to play and also to host a series of exhibition games with international teams. He used his former NASL connections to get both Napoli and Pumas to come to San Jose and play a friendly game which ended in a 2-2 draw. Napoli had just signed Argentine superstar Diego Maradona and he was leading the team. Some friends I was with went inside the locker-room and took pictures alongside him.

Their pre and post-game parties were all held at Guido’s Pizzeria on Bascom Ave. Napoli coach Rino Marchesi told Maradona whatever he does, do not enter Pumas penalty box as it was only an exhibition match and there was no need to get injured. He in fact didn’t do much during the match but the game nonetheless was a sellout and a huge success. Maradona wanted a special kind of blue silk fabric bedsheets for his hotel room and Bridgwater gave a credit card to one his people and drive all the way up to San Francisco as the local Valley Fair Mall hadn’t been opened yet and Stanford’s shopping mall also didn’t have the special sheets he wanted.

Major League Soccer didn’t come around for another 11 years on April 6th 1996 so this game provided us with lasting memories during a period (1984-1995) when soccer died).

As a kid, I saw Giorgio Chinaglia , Pele , Franz Beckenbauer, Roberto Bettega , George Best , Gerd Mueller , Rodney Marsh and many more all play live at Spartan and seeing Diego playing at Spartan was the clincher and provided a lasting memory I will never forget.

Rest in Peace Diego Armando Maradona!