Diego Maradona speak out
Inter Milan’s win over Bayern Munich in Madrid roused cheer s from various supporters around the world, and there was one man half way across the globe who the win added to his own national advantage. That man was none other than former football great and coach of the Argentinean national team Diego Maradona. Taking to the podium for the first time after announcing the squad for the upcoming World Cup, Maradona was all praises for his namesake Diego Milito, the double goal scorer in the Champions League final.
It was Milito’s two goals that made Inter Milan win the cup for the first time in three decades. With that in mind Maradona believed this newfound confidence will help Milito to take Argentina to the highest of highs in the World Cup in South Africa. Maradona proudly pointed out to reporters that he saw the skills that Milito possessed, which were now also open to the world to see, and this was the key reason for calling up Milito for the Argentinean squad. Argentina played its final warm up match against Canada on Monday.
There seems to be a slight dilemma though, even though Milito has scored thirty goals for the Nazzurris this season, he may still be sitting on the bleachers during the World Cup matches. The reason for this is that Coach Maradona’s preliminary strategy includes playing three forwards; the names of which most probably would be Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez of Manchester City and of course Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain. Therefore there seems to be little room for Milito who might just be joining Sergio Aguero and Martin Palermo on the reserve bench. These however are preliminary speculations and as the tournament progresses changes might be made to the side depending on each player’s performance on the given day.
The most popular player in Argentina at the moment is Carlos Tevez, who has performed well for Manchester City this season as well as Manchester United last season as well. Thus, it is essential for Maradona to keep him in the line up, which he has admitted to himself as well. Messi however, is on number five in the popularity list but one of Maradona’s blue-eyed boys who cannot be kept on the side benches. Maradona claims that Milito’s spell was not surprising as he has had a good season and is a very skilled player, however both Messi and Tevez have had given spectacular performances as well. Atheletico Madrid player Sergio Aguero may be Maradona’s son in law, but there seems to be no favours being handed down there, as he too will most probably be setting out in the dug out.
This is the first time that Diego Maradona will be going into a World Cup as a coach, but rather than being on edge, he seems to be pretty relaxed. His earlier appearances in the World Cup as a player won the Argentineans the cup in 1986 and reached the final in 1990, but few pundits predict the same result this time around as coach. He has come under criticism several times during his nineteen-month tenure for his unusual strategies and lack of formal training as a coach.
Maradona does feel his side has all it takes to win the cup but their poor performance in the qualifying stages raised many an eyebrow. They crashed to a humiliating 6-1 defeat against Bolivia and to Brazil by 3 goals to 1. Thus it was quite a struggle to qualify for the main event. However during his press conferences he has maintained confidence on his side chances in the cup mainly on the back of his trump card Lionel Messi, who is the current FIFA footballer of the year. So what remains to be seen is can Maradona translate the magic he created as a player into that of a coach. Only time will tell.
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