World mourns as Argentina football legend Maradona passes on at 60
By Ben Alaiya
The football and indeed sporting world has been thrown into mourning following the passage of iconic Argentine legend, Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday. He was age 60.
Following confirmation from his lawyer , Martias Morlahas that the 1986 World Cup winning captain, has passed on the entire sporting world was thrown into pains even from the legendary Edson Arantes Do Nascimento popularly known as Pele, whom Maradona was only compared to in legendary status.
From the Nigerian angle, Segun Odegbami, whom we all call Big Seg, described Maradona’s passage as a disaster to world football. Odegbami, himself a legend in Africa and world football, said it was unfortunate that we lost such a talent at such age even if death is always inevitable.
The NFF has also through its media directorate been mourning the passage of a true legend of the game, who has had to battle with drug and alcohol addiction in his lifetime.
It will also be recalled that Maradona, was suspended from the USA ’94 World Cup by FIFA for spicing himself up with a banned drug, Ephedrine in the game against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Maradona, has recently undergone brain surgery and was thought to be recovering before his sudden passage.
His family has said that they plead with the world for privacy at this time of grief for the family.
World soccer governing body, FIFA, said on it website that it was grieved at the passage of one of the best players to have graced world football and took the game to a height that can never be forgotten.
The same resonated from the African football governing body, CAF, which also lamented Maradona’s death.
READ ALSO: Football icon Diego Maradona dies at 60
Legendary Brazilian legend Pele, the only man to have won the World Cup as a player thrice, said it was a sad day for world football to have lost such a great talent to the game at a tender age.
He sends his condolences to his family and wish him God’s rest in His bossom.
The sporting world will not rest in the few days over the sudden passage of the Argentine legend as the family grapples with the reality and are proposing burial plans in the coming weeks.
