FIFA World Cup 2010 – Maradona defends Messi for being kicked on the field
As we all know how tough this World Cup has been for the big guns, teams that are standing against the top sides in the World are trying to win it to get a spot for themselves at least in the Semi Finals.
In this tournament, Argentina has been the most impressive team by far. They have continuously done wonders with the ball and Diego Maradona has done a great job making and choosing the team. Diego Maradona was pretty much criticized for selecting so many strikers for his side, while he was not much concerned about the defensive aspect of his team. His team’s defence has been exploited time and time again, although they conceded only two goals and scored nine.
Although the Argentinean team has been amazing on the offence and a little shaky at the defence, they have still won all the matches they have played in this World Cup and are considered to be the favourites for this FIFA World Cup.
Lionel Messi, the number ten for the Argentinean side, has been on top of his form lately and has played amazingly well. He is undoubtedly the man to watch out for, for all the teams he’s playing against; therefore, according to Maradona, he is “kicked” on the field.
When the Argentinean side faced Mexico in the pre-quarter final stage, they were on top that day by defeating them by a two goal margin with the final score line ending 3-1. Since the first goal was very controversial, an angry Mexican side surrounded the Italian referee right after the replay was played on the big screen. The goal was still allowed and the angry players started to take down the Argentinean players on the field. Their first victim was Lionel Messi, who was taken by his Catalan team mate and the Mexican captain, Rafael Marquez. Lionel Messi was a target to many of the defenders throughout the tournament. Diego Maradona realises this and says that they should respect the game and respect the spirit of the sport. He shook off the question of the first goal, which was a clear offside and was still allowed by the referee. In return he said that the referees are equally guilty because they do not protect Lionel Messi the right way.
He clearly said:
"Whenever Messi has the ball everyone is trying to kick his legs, what is being done to Messi is a scandal - they don't even look for the ball they try to kick him.”
"I understand the Mexicans' feelings but there is a limit to everything.”
He told the press that the goal scored by Carlos Tevez is so famous now that it is even more controversial than the one scored by Lampard four hours ago and was disallowed although the ball crossed the goal line.
On the other hand, the Mexican coach Javier Aguirre said that the referees are ruining the game and years of hard work, by giving wrong decisions. He claimed that his team was young and strong and after the first goal they lost concentration and gave away a second goal by a defensive blunder. He carried on by saying that after four years these young players are going to set a mark in the next World Cup, as they are a fine generation of good football players.
We all know how bad the decisions of the referees have been so far. The goal scored by Tevez yesterday and the one actually scored by Frank Lampard was disallowed; both the cases have been really controversial. United Kingdom’s Prime Minister has urged FIFA to start using video technology. Let us see whether the football association is ready to make changes after this World Cup.
No matter what the case is, if big stars like Lionel Messi, Ricardo Kaka or Cristiano Ronaldo suffer an injury because of such blunt decisions, then only the referees are going to be blamed for it because of the fact that they did not really impress the football fans or the footballers in this particular FIFA World Cup. Is this going to continue or is FIFA going to take a stand? Only time can tell.
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