"In the end, it is about whether God wants us to be in the final, but I know that is what God wants. This time we will not need the Hand of God, because it is the will of God"
About this Quote
Maradona takes the oldest sports interview cliche - fate - and supercharges it into a claim of personal appointment. The line isn’t humble providence; it’s competitive bravado dressed in religious certainty. He’s not asking for blessing, he’s announcing a verdict: God already voted, and the ballot has his name on it.
The phrasing matters. “Whether God wants us” nods to doubt and contingency, the normal language of athletes trying to sound measured. Then he snaps it shut: “but I know.” That pivot is the whole performance. It turns faith into confidence and confidence into inevitability, a way to quiet nerves, opponents, and even teammates. “This time we will not need the Hand of God” is the slyest move: a wink toward his most infamous act, the 1986 goal scored with his hand, which he later mythologized as divine intervention. By invoking it, he reclaims the scandal as legend, then upgrades the story: no trickery required now, because the outcome is already sanctified.
The subtext is control. Maradona is bargaining with chaos - the randomness of a tournament, the fragility of a body, the violence of expectation - by reframing it as destiny. It’s also a cultural flex, tapping Argentina’s Catholic-inflected language of miracles and suffering while keeping the tone street-level and defiant. He doesn’t just want to win; he wants the win to feel cosmically justified, as if the final were not earned so much as owed.
The phrasing matters. “Whether God wants us” nods to doubt and contingency, the normal language of athletes trying to sound measured. Then he snaps it shut: “but I know.” That pivot is the whole performance. It turns faith into confidence and confidence into inevitability, a way to quiet nerves, opponents, and even teammates. “This time we will not need the Hand of God” is the slyest move: a wink toward his most infamous act, the 1986 goal scored with his hand, which he later mythologized as divine intervention. By invoking it, he reclaims the scandal as legend, then upgrades the story: no trickery required now, because the outcome is already sanctified.
The subtext is control. Maradona is bargaining with chaos - the randomness of a tournament, the fragility of a body, the violence of expectation - by reframing it as destiny. It’s also a cultural flex, tapping Argentina’s Catholic-inflected language of miracles and suffering while keeping the tone street-level and defiant. He doesn’t just want to win; he wants the win to feel cosmically justified, as if the final were not earned so much as owed.
Quote Details
| Topic | God |
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