Mario Kempes - Argentina
Mario Kempes was rated so highly that Luis Menotti made him an exception to the rule that only home-based players were allowed to play for Argentina. Just a month short of his twenty-fourth birthday at the period of the World Cup, Kempes was the leading scorer in the Argentine league in 1974 and the leading scorer in the Spanish league in 1977. As tall as most central defenders, Kempes had great heading ability which, unusually for someone of his height, was paired with impressive ball control. Kempes running full tilt at a defense was the stuff of Argentine dreams, and a living hell for the opposition; hell because Kempes could easily swap highly accurate one-twos with his striking partner, making it difficult to know what to do. Because of his height and speed, different teams had to be careful when attacking; just one mistake and the ball would be booted up field with Kempes in pursuit and likely to score.

Osvaldo Ardiles - Argentina
Osvaldo Ardiles was a highly enthusiastic, workaholic midfielder for Argentina, who never let his comparatively small size shake him from his motivation to thread through the most delicate of passes. With a perfect sense of balance, Ardiles was able to twist and turn, and then set off at speed to apply the most splendid of passes to those ahead of him. Impossible to faze, Ardiles was able to dribble through and ignore the most questionable of tackles.

Diego Maradona – Argentina
Maradona was fantastic in every area of his game. At his peak, his low centre of gravity made it impossible for other players to force him off the ball. His electrifying speed off the mark and his deceptive switch in pace always caused problems for the opposing team. Maradona had a thunderous shot with each foot and had a great footballing brain which made him an expert at weighing up various situations on the football pitch. And considering his strength he made some fantastic delicate touches, including the ability to play the ball in mid-stride, which provided him that split- second advantage over ordinary players.
All of Diego Maradona’s fans will always remember his display against England in the 1986 world cup quarter final, when he scored one of the finest individual goals in the history of football; he tore the entire English defense apart. Many critics remember how, in the same game, he clearly palmed the ball into the goal right in front of a Tunisian referee, who was later banned by FIFA for incompetence. Throughout the entire 1986 world cup, Maradona’s displays were of the highest caliber, his goal against Belgium was fantastic, and he tore apart sides in that tournament. He was brilliant in the final against West Germany, where he assisted the ball to Burruchaga who scored the goal that won Argentina the world cup.