Can Maradona lead Argentina to 2010 glory?
Diego Maradona lifts the World Cup...
Yesterday in Argentina, Diego “El Pibe” Maradona was officially presented as the national team coach of the albicelestes.
He will be assisted by Dr. Carlos Bilardo, his former coach during their last World Cup triumph in 1986.
The former Boca Juniors, Napoli and Barcelona star succeeds Alfio Basile, who stepped down from the position on October 16 for personal reasons.
Mister Maradona’s first game on the Argentine bench will be a 19 November 2008 friendly in Glasgow against Scotland.
Press Conference Excerpts:
“Es un honor y es como un sueño estar en la Selección junto a Carlos”.
“It is an honor and is like a dream to be in the Argentine national team together with Carlos.”
“Nosotros dos vamos a estar al frente de todo”.
“Both of us are going to be in front of everything.”
Asked who he wanted for his back room staff?
“Lealtad absoluta. Que sean de fierro. Que estén para trabajar y que acepten órdenes de la cabeza número uno que soy yo”.
“Absolute loyalty. Those that are made of steel. Those who work and accept orders from the head man which is me.”
“Las grandes selecciones las hacen los jugadores. No quiero que mi equipo juegue como la selección del 86. Quiero que tenga identidad propia. Sabiendo que lo único que importa acá es la camiseta”, confesó y luego agregó: “Mascherano va a ser mi capitán”.
“Great national teams are made by the players. I don’t want that my team plays like the 1986 side. I want it to have its own identity. Knowing that the only important thing here is the shirt, he confessed and then added: Javier Mascherano is going to be my captain.”
Source: Clarin of Buenos Aires, 04 November 2008.
Spanish translation by Steve Amoia.
Andres Cantor on Diego Maradona
Earlier this year, Soccerlens interviewed Andres Cantor. Cantor knows Maradona quite well, and had an interesting observation:
“First and foremost he was adored because of his brilliance in the pitch. He was a magician with a football. But his life story made him have a universal appeal. He began gaining notoriety in his early teens where he stood out playing for his “Cebollitas” Team. He played in a nationally televised tournament and everyone was asking who was that midfielder that seemed capable of dribbling the entire rival team.
His rag to riches story, his confrontation with the status quo, with the powers of football and politics, his aura as a football diva and, of course, his triumphs on the pitch made him a superidol in Argentina. So much so, that many people to the day, forgive him for any wrong doings, and will always support him for what he represented as a footballer. Off the pitch I got to know a very humble, yet intelligent man, who with great difficulty had to rapidly adjust to world stardom. A very sincere and outspoken person, who also knew that when he spoke people listened. Not always could you agree with his line of thinking, but he surely caught everyone’s attention.”
Jorge Valdano on Diego Maradona
Valdano, speaking to BBC:
…Maradona, he was a genetic miracle, a man whom nature endowed with extraordinary abilities and who, moreover, grew up in the right place to achieve his potential.
On the field he demonstrated an ability to be a generous man, both committed and brave. The people who said terrible things about Maradona are the same people who forget that it is necessary to judge geniuses by their deeds and not by their life.
Maradona the Manager?
The man is a national icon, hell, an international icon, and there is no doubt that the players will respect him and that he has the footballing brain to handle coaching at the top level. The only doubts that remain would be over his man-management abilities, because I don’t see Diego Maradona falling foul of the ‘pressures’ of international management – the man single-handedly won the World Cup in 1986, he can handle a bunch of kids trying to do it the second time around.
Do you think Diego Maradona will make a good coach?
Argentina and the 2010 World Cup
Will Argentina lift the World Cup in 2010 South Africa or will his reign end in tears? Two things are certain – one, that people will continue to talk about his off-field problems and a select few on-field issues and use the past to judge the present and two, the ending will be something spectacular, whether it ends in tears or in glory.
Can’t wait to see a Maradona-led Argentina face England in South Africa 2010…
Steve Amoia is the author and editor of the World Football Commentaries blog. He has written for AC Cugini Scuola Calcio, Keeper Skool, and Soccerlens.
Grondona is an asshole… He should give Bianchi the job, we don’t give a rats ass what his personal problems with him are. We fans have been yelling out for him for almost 10 years now, and what does he give us? A guy who played incredible football 20 years ago, but now he can’t even count to eleven. IF he does get the job two things may happen: 1. We may barely qualify for 2010, and then come back home empty-handed after the first 3 matches.
2. He ends up being a puppet, somone just for show, while “his” team of great coaches (the rumours of guys being contacted by the guy are quite a lo) pull the strings from behind, wich may or may not be a good thing.
This has disaster written all over it. Can’t wait to see how this turns out. Wonder how drastically the odds dipped that Argentina doesn’t even qualify?
We’re assuming that he’ll be sober during the matches, right?
apparently no one likes Maradona, eh?
I think he was one of the greatest players in the history of the game. I also think he has a lot of personal demons that we don’t know if he’s conquered yet. It seems like every year, there’s a story about him going to rehab or suffering some illness as a result of his hard living. I don’t think it’s fair to the Argentine National Team, and I don’t think it’s fair to put him under that kind of pressure.
We like Maradona. It’s just that his history doesn’t help him. He has been coach two times. With Deportivo Mandiyu (in eleven matchs, Mandiyu went from the “B Nacional” to “C”) and with Racing Club De Avellaneda (In ten matchs, he only won half of them)
Do you know any Coach of a NATIONAL TEAM that has that poor statistics and less than 10 clubs in his carreer? That’s the problem.
But, in the bright side, he is all Guts. And He will give a new style to our national team. Don’t forget, he WON a World cup doing the “Maradona + 10″.
Biachi did not get the job because he thinks he is above it all. He is a great coach and I was hoping he would get it, but he seems to be a bit of a drama queen. Above it all, as always I will cheer for Argentina like I always have and hope Maradona plays it smart and takes good players and positions them correctly. In fact, I did not Basile when he took it over becasue that man is too old and out of touch with how Argentina can play. I think Diego can do it. I am sure he’ll do better than Bielsa in 2002. VAMOS DIEGO!!!!
I do know about maradona’s past coaching records…but i believe he can do a decent job now. why? a man who has managed to vanquish drugs dependance n obesity simultaneously has a rare winning mentality…but really, argentina seem to change managers faster than newcastle…thats a problem
Argentina Football needed a boost in their popuarity among their own fans and bringing in Maradona into the fold is going to win the AFA much needed vote of support from the Argetinian people. Even if Maradona does not make the cut im sure there are people behind him to make doubly sure his coaching tactics are a success.
He has a coach? complete screw up.
Maybe he might teach Messi how to become the new Hand of God.
I was in Manumision (a nightclub in Ibiza) about ten years ago and at about 4am I looked up and there, leaning over the balcony of the VIP area, looking absolutely out of his tree on every drug going, was Diego Maradona. He didn’t look much like he was capable of managing to stay upright, never mind manage a World Cup winning team. I hope for his sake that he’s learnt a lot in the last decade.
Mart
I just hope that he doesnt affect messi’s future
Javier Mascherano!!!!! for captain
I think that he could everything as a player, but I think that he won’t have to much success as a coach. His temper will be his main problem. Argentine have a great squad but they won’t take WORLD CUP 2010 with Maradona
Maradona is a footballing god, some would even say the greatest of all time. But making him national manager, when you had other tried, tested and sober options. I think he should have a role in the side, maybe assistant manager or Under21 coach, just not in the hot seat.
There are presumptions that Maradona’s lack of managing experience will do him in. He’s arguably the best player the game of football has ever produced, but this quality will work against him as a manager because geniuses fail to understand the relative shortcomings of those below that standard. Then there’s the old finger pointing to his many vices as another reason why Diego Armando Maradona will fail miserably. Granted these are valid reasons why this particular selection of Maradona raises more eyebrows. Let’s all for a moment forget Carlos Bianchi. The man himself doesn’t want to coach whilst Grondona is the head of the AFA so he was already out of the picture by his own doing.
For those of us who are not from Argentina, we often fail to appreciate the place in society that Maradona occupies. I’m not referring to the Church of Maradona or those who literally idolize him from the suburbs to the barrios of Buenos Aires..I’m talking about his position amongst footballers. Every kid who has been born post-circa 1986 grows up praying that they can be the next Maradona. Every new potential star is dubbed the next Maradona. He is the focal point of football in Argentina. So installing him as the manager of the albicelestos has more meaning than just appointing a tactician or a man who will bring results. He will inspire those who answer his call to don the shirt of Argentina. And when I say inspire, I’m not just referring to the kind of pat on the shoulder and the “let’s have it” pep talk in the dressing room. These are players who idolized Maradona when they played street football, who at some point dream they can score a goal like his second against England. In short, if you are Aguerro, or Messi, or Tevez, and you know he is now sitting on the bench as manager (and not up in the stands as a hincha), you will conjure up every last bit of strength to give it your all (Aguerro better since he’s shagged Maradona’s daughter and has the more dubious burden of being the father to Maradona’s grandchild). And that’s what Argentina has lacked. It’s not tactical awareness or an inability to score. It’s a lack of purpose, an absence of passion that was always characteristic of the national team in Maradona’s days.
Compare the appointment of Maradona to Jürgen Klinsmann’s appointment as the German national manager prior to the 2006 World Cup. What managerial expertise did Klinsmann have? Did he manage a Bundesliga club before? Nay, an MLS club? He was a consultant for the Los Angeles Galaxy (the pre-Beckham Galaxy). Yet Klinsmann surrounded himself with qualified people. There was current German manager Joachim Lõw, Andreas Kõpke (goalkeeping coach), Oliver Bierhoff (striker coach) and others. Maradona has the tactical advice of Carlos Bilardo (the man who guided Argentina to the 1986 title and as runners up in 1990), a goalkeeper’s coach in Sergio Goycochea, defensive coach in Luis Brown (also part of the 1986 team), Olympic gold medal winning coach Batista and possibly Gabriel Batistuta (the top scorer for los albicelestos) and on and on. It’s not just Maradona on the bench. He’s assembled a team like Klinsmann and it’s that comparison that convinces me that this appointment isn’t just a last ditch attempt to qualify for 2010.
Maradona was the most gifted footballer who ever played the game and he will lead Argentina to glory in 2010. Mano De Dios…. Davey Hardman…
I hate all of you that put down Maradona for the few mistakes he’s made in life, REMEMBER he helped give us the world cup and i am thankful to God for that. All you haters can go to hell! Maradona is now 2-0 leading the Argentine National Team as Head Coach! You’ll see in 2010 that we are blessed to have him as our Head Coach!