Top Cheating Football Players at the World Cup (Part 2)

Continuing on from my previous article on the top cheating players at the World Cup the cheating gets even worse here as we take a look at dives that could win an oscar, violent conduct you think only a savage animal would be capable of plus much more!

Above: Diego Maradona scores vs England for Argentina in the Quarter Finals of the 1986 World Cup by cheating with a hand ball. The cheating was not spotted by the referee. For many England fans, the hand of god is the most unjust action ever to happen in the World Cup

Zinedine Zidane's Head Butt on Marco Materazzi, France vs Italy, Final, World Cup 2006

In the 2006 World Cup Final France's Zinedine Zidane was sent off for headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the chest. It is probably the most memorable head butt you will hear about in soccer even though better head butts have been delivered by the likes of Everton's Duncan Ferguson and Wimbledon's Vinny Jones. Still many wondered years later what caused Zidane to react the way he did and it was revealed in a 2016 book by Materazzi that he had insulted Zidane's sister (not Zidane's mother which many believed to be the case)

Fernando Torres - Spain vs. Chile, World Cup, 2010

Fernando Torres performed possibly one of the worst dives ever seen in a World Cup, simply because unlike any other dive he wasn't anywhere near Marco Estrada to even believe there could have been contact. Torres rolled over and covered his face to reveal his complete intent to cheat against Chilli in the 2010 World Cup. What is more amusing is you don't really know whether Torres accidentally tripped over his own foot and then decided to use it as a form of cheating or whether he meant to entangle himself in his own legs from the start.

Rivaldo's Dive Against Hakan Unsal, Brazil vs Turkey, World Cup 2002

This has to be the most pathetic dive ever to be caught on camera at the World Cup and one where Brazil's Rivaldo had no shame of doing so right on the corner flag where the crowd had an eagle eye view. Even later after the World Cup Rivaldo was unapologetic for his diving in an interview where he stated.

"I was glad to see the red card," "Creative players must be able to express themselves if football is to stay a beautiful game. There's too much foul play and violence in football. It doesn't matter where the ball hit me. It was only the intent that mattered."

If you watch the video after he gets hit in the hip with the football he jumps on the floor holding his face in agony. Rivaldo managed to convince the referee that the Turkish player deserved a red card.

The Battle of Santiago, Chile vs Italy, World Cup 1962

This arguably deserves to be at number 2 due to the sheer number of fights that broke out between Italy and hosts Chile on the pitch. Two players were sent off during the game and the police needed to intervene four times. You couldn't really imagine police coming onto a football pitch to control players these days. Amongst other crazy violent moments in the match a Chilean player Sánchez broke Italy's Humberto Maschio's nose with a left hook, but the referee did not send him off. The two teams engaged in scuffles and spitting but Chile had the last laugh defeating the Italians 2-0.

Emotions were running high before the game due to two Italian journalists writing about what a dump Santiago was. They wrote that "Santiago was a backwater dump where the phones don't work, taxis are as rare as faithful husbands, a cable to Europe costs an arm and a leg and a letter takes five days to turn up", and its population are prone to "malnutrition, illiteracy, alcoholism and poverty. There comments were not well received by Chileans especially since Chile was trying to recover from one of the worst earth quakes the world had ever witnessed in 1960.

Diego Maradona, Hand of God, Argentina vs England, World Cup Quarter Final, 1986

It will always land at number one on many soccer top 10 lists of shocking and memorable moments, no matter what dirty antics crop up in future tournaments. There can simply be no other act of cheating greater than Maradona's winning handball goal vs England in the 1986 world cup quarter final.