Diego Maradona 'predicted' controversial 2026 World Cup feature 8 years ago
Topics: Football, World News, Sport
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Paul Bereswill/Getty Images
Topics: Football, World News, Sport
Soccer legend Diego Maradona made a prediction about this year's World Cup which appears to have come true.
Maradona, known for the famous, or infamous depending on who you ask, World Cup victory for Argentina in 1986 following the 'Hand of God' goal, spoke back in 2018 about the US, Canada, and Mexico hosting the World Cup.
The footballer, who died in 2020, made his disapproval of a US-hosted World Cup clear for one very specific reason, which has proven to be correct.
This is of course the controversial 'hydration breaks' which have been enforced by FIFA during matches.
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Many fans and pundits have criticized the pauses, which see play stopped for a few minutes.
The breaks are ostensibly to allow the players time to drink water during the match, however they also have an underlying purpose.
That is of course to sell advertising space during the game, as many people will be tuning in to watch the match, so rather like the Super Bowl the breaks have created extra minutes of time for adverts.
Criticizing the choice of hosts, Maradona said: "There’s no passion.The Canadians may be good skiers, and the Americans wanted to have four periods of 25 [minutes] for the advertising.”
FIFA has previously put rules in place about water breaks during the Qatar World Cup, where extreme heat may have posed a health risk to player.
During this competition the water breaks would only kick in if temperatures exceeded 32C, that's around 89.6F, according to the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature which also factors in humidity.
However, the use of air conditioned stadiums for the matches meant that in practice, the breaks were not needed.
For this tournament however, the breaks have been mandatory regardless of temperature.
Maradona may have been correct about the US portion of the World Cup with the ad breaks, or hydration breaks, but he may not have been right about everything.
Another prediction saw the legend say: “Mexico doesn’t deserve it. The Mexicans come up against Brazil or Germany… and ‘boom,’ they’re out.”
But at the moment, Mexico is ranked third in the group stage of the competition, being one of three teams to have not yet lost a match.
Accounting for Mexico's goal difference of six they tail France in first place with a goal difference of eight, while Argentina are second with a goal difference of seven.
Meanwhile, Brazil are currently on seven points, having won two matches and drawn one, while Germany have won two and lost one, putting Mexico ahead of both.
So at present the stats indicate that Mexico are ahead of both teams Maradona predicted would beat them, though with the knock-out stage still ahead, he may still be proved right.
Number of goals: 19
World Cups: Six - 2006 (one goal), 2010 (no goals), 2014 (four goals), 2018 (one goal), 2022 (seven goals), 2026 (six goals at time of writing)
Number of matches played: 29
Number of goals: 16
World Cups: Three - 2018 (four goals), 2022 (eight goals), 2026 (four goals at time of writing)
Number of matches played: 17
Number of goals: 16
World Cups: Four - 2002 (five goals), 2006 (five goals), 2010 (four goals), 2014 (two goals)
Number of matches played: 24
Number of goals: 15
World Cups: Four - 1994 (no goals), 1998 (four goals), 2002 (eight goals), 2006 (three goals)
Number of matches played: 19
Number of goals: 14
World Cups: Two - 1970 (10 goals), 1974 (four goals)
Number of matches played: 13
Number of goals: 13
World Cups: One - 1958
Number of matches played: Six
Number of goals: 12
World Cups: Four - 1958 (six goals), 1962 (one goal), 1966 (one goal), 1970 (four goals)
Number of matches played: 14
Number of goals: 11
World Cups: Three - 1990 (three goals), 1994 (five goals), 1998 (three goals)
Number of matches played: 17
Number of goals: 11
World Cups: One - 1954
Number of matches played: Five
Number of goals: 10
World Cups: Three - 1994 (four goals), 1998 (five goals), 2002 (one goal)
Number of matches played: 12
Number of goals: 10
World Cups: Three - 1970 (five goals), 1978 (five goals), 1982 (no goals)
Number of matches played: 13
Number of goals: 11
World Cups: Three - 2018 (six goals), 2022 (two goals), 2026 (three goals at time of writing)
Number of matches played: 14