The Greatest World Cup Performance in history? - The 1986 World Cup Semi Final - Argentina v Belgium

A World Cup semi-final played in the shadow of one of football’s biggest controversies.

It’s 1986, just four days after the chaos of Argentina vs England — the Hand of God, the Goal of the Century, and a football world still arguing the same question: genius… or cheat?

In this episode, we revisit Argentina vs Belgium, a semi-final where Diego Maradona somehow responded to all the noise by producing an even purer display of brilliance.

We break down how Belgium tried to contain him with discipline and numbers, how Argentina built their entire attacking rhythm around him, and how, for long stretches of the game, it simply didn’t seem to matter how many defenders stood in his way.

We relive the balance, the acceleration, the close control that left Belgian players trailing in his wake, and the two goals that perfectly captured why Mexico ‘86 became Maradona’s tournament.

We also explore how the fallout from the England game shaped the atmosphere around the match, how Maradona seemed to thrive on the chaos surrounding him, and why this semi-final pushed the debate to its absolute peak: was the world watching football’s greatest genius… or its greatest villain?

This is The Semi-Final Countdown — a podcast dedicated to the great finals (and the occasional semi-final) from the annals of football. Each week your hosts, Adam and Lewis, dive deep — with a generous helping of nostalgia and humour — into one of football’s greatest showpieces.