Soccer: Maradona’s Mission Accomplished
When Diego Maradona is around, expect the unexpected!
Dazzling with brilliance on one occasion, to being sent back home mid-way after failing a drugs test. With a penchant for grabbing the headlines at World Cups during his playing days for either scoring by hand, or by mouth, Maradona could always be trusted to provide the wisp needed to set off a storm.
So when Maradona was entrusted with the task of guiding a mightily talented, but a floundering Argentine outfit into the World Cup, the world watched with a bated breath as to how one of the most loved as well as most hated (that’s how the opinions were divided) figures would perform as coach.
One of the most successful national football teams in the world, having twice won the FIFA World Cup, in 1978 and 1986, Argentina were staring at the prospect of missing out a spot at the event.
Three successive defeats including a 3-1 submission to Brazil at home, and a 6-1 hammering at Bolivia had left their campaign in tatters. Maradona, so often press’ favorite whipping boy, was subjected to barrage of scathing criticsm, putting the star under immense pressure.
One failure away from the sack, a last grasp victory over Peru offered his team a lifeline, which was duly grasped with both hands as Argentina defeated Uruguay in the last qualifying match to avoid play-ofs and qualify for the World Cup.
Mission accomplished, the bottled up frustration overflowed as Maradona indulged in unsavory outburst directed towards what he later confessed, was the media.
He was banned for 2-months, but no one cared. Critics had been silenced, until June 2010 atleast
