A God, a legend, a phenom.
All those words are used on a daily basis to describe Diego Maradona in Argentina. He is the single most beloved sports star in the country. And now, 22 years after lifting the World Cup trophy, "El Diego" has been called upon to guide the national team into South Africa 2010.
So what's the problem? Maybe one too many.
There are brilliant players, great players, even legends, and then there is Maradona, who along with Pele has been at a level throughout the years that has not been matched.
But who says this will make him a good coach? Argentina is desperate because their national team, packed with superstars, has played mediocre football throughout the qualifiers. So they take their God, their idol, their media sweetheart, and put him in a position where possibilities of him failing are frighteningly high.
It's not a bad move, it's not a good move; right now, it's just a move. But with the appointment of Maradona as head coach, the two time world champions are following in the foot steps of their hated neighbour Brazil, who after failing in the World Cup hired living legend and 1994 captain Dunga to guide them.
Dunga and Maradona cannot be compared, but the situations are very alike.
At the time of his hiring, the Brazilian had no coaching experience, he got the job for what he had done as a player. Now the press and the public are begging for a coaching change. Maradona, like his neighbour, gets the job for what he did on the field. It's like appointing the bellboy to run the hotel because he's the best at carrying bags.
It has been proved time and again that what players do on the field has nothing to do with their coaching abilities. Most great coaches either didn't play or were mediocre players at best. Ronald Koeman is another example of a former great player who has gone on to fail as a coach.
In Argentina, everyone adores Maradona. People talk about him like he's not human, like he's untouchable. He's the best and then there's everyone else in Argentines' minds. So why? why put him in a position where it all could come crumbling down in a matter of months?
He should at least have coached Boca Juniors to get a taste of the action from the sidelines. Now, if he doesn't do as a coach what he did as a player, it will be an automatic failure.
Coaches should be role models, and what right will he have to scold a player when he gets caught cheating or doing drugs? Perhaps that is the most important question to ponder.
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2 months ago
Part of me agrees with your concerns, and another part of me believes that people are completely underestimating the impact someone of Maradonna's stature can have on a team.
We only have to look at a couple of recent examples of new managers coming in and changing the team's fortunes—Zola at West Ham and Redknapp at Tottenham Hotspurs, both in the Premier League. Both had the same kind of impact upon their arrival, but I'll just elaborate on Redknapp's story. Harry Redknapp took over from a relegation hovering and underachieving Tottenham team. From the moment he arrived they started to get incredible results and play to their potential, maybe even above.
But no matter how good a manager is, he cannot enforce his tactical style and experience on a team within a few days, or even a few weeks. For a manager to truly coach players into playing the way he wants, any thoughtful person will realise that it takes time. So what Redknapp's and Zola's immediate impact tells me is that whilst managerial nous and experience means a lot, sometimes just the momentum and inspiration that a new manager can bring is often enough to change a team's fortunes by itself.
If you believe my logic then regarding Maradona's appointment it will all depend on how the Argentinian players react to the legend that is Maradona. Like you say, he is worshipped as a god in Argentina. Will the players be overwhelmed? Will they be cautious about his lack of experience? What about if he doesn't provide them with much tactical instructions and instead relies on the old "play your heart out"? Will they respond positively to that?
For me, so much depends on how Messi reacts to Maradona. It's well reported that there is a little bit of tension between the two, for whatever reasons. Now the following statement is only based on my gut feeling here but I think that there is a little bit of jealously on Maradona's part. Put bluntly, I think he feels threatened by Messi's talent.
Messi has definitely risen as the only player who could genuinely challenge Maradonna as Argentina's best ever player in terms of ability. It doesn't help that he plays in almost exactly the same style as Maradona. His dribbling style and the way he runs is eerily reminiscent of Maradona. And, from what I've seen, there's a growing number of people who now believe that Messi has just as much talent as Maradona. (I'm one of them who believes they're not as far apart as people will argue).
And now that Maradona is the manager of Messi, he has the power to control effectively control Messi's legacy in Argentina. Being such an emotional guy, how will Maradona react to someone who could threaten his crown? If Maradonna does feel threatened, it is possible for him to do a number of things to restrict Messi's rise in Argentinian hearts. He could just stop playing him in some games, citing injury or lack of form etc. He could say that he doesn't fit in the team. He could deliberately fail to mould the team around Messi etc. Any of these possibilities could have a major impact on the squad, both in the morale and the team performances.
This may sound like a crazy conspiracy theory, but the idea comes from a concrete example in Europe, specifically the Netherlands.
The two players concerned in this example is Van Nistelrooy and Van Basten, the equivalent to Messi and Maradona. Van Nistelrooy, without a shadow of a doubt, was and still is the best striker Holland has had in the last decade. But despite this, he was repeatedly dropped from his national side, not only the first team but sometimes even the squad. Who was the manager who did this? Marco Van Basten, the player who, before Van Nistelrooy came along, was renowned for being, undisputedly, the best striker Holland had ever had.
Van Basten would regularly leave out Van Nistelrooy for important matches. In the world cup 06 quarter final where they got knocked out by Portugal, Van Basten didn't even use Van Nistelrooy, the most prolific goalscorer ever in Europe (in terms of goals to match ratio) in the match, despite putting him on the substitute bench.
Whilst this has never really been suggested or reported, my gut feeling is that there was some animosity and maybe jealously on Van Basten's part, and he dropped Van Nistelrooy because of it.
Let me repeat: this had not been reported or suggested before (as far as I know) and I have no evidence to really back this up besides my gut feeling. My gut feeling is correct more often than not but I'm definitely not certain about my theory. And I'm more than open to the likely possibility that it's completely wrong. So I'm not expecting anybody to be convinced by my speculation, or believe me just because of my 'gut feeling'.
But I hope that people will at least keep it in mind over the period of Maradona's stay as Argentina's coach.
Do I predict that the same thing will happen between Messi and Maradona? No, it's not a prediction. But I definitely think that it's a possibility. And if the signs of problems happen again between Messi and Maradona, then I will think that my theory might have more credence, and I'll definitely believe it a bit more.
I must add another example of similarity. Michel Platini, a French playmaker in the 70s and 80s, holds a similar status in France as does Maradonna in Argentina and Van Basten in Holland. And as most people should know by now, Zinedine Zidane came along in the late 90s, early 2000s, and demonstrated that he wasn't just a contender, but probably a favourite, to take over Platini's title of France's best ever player.
Now whilst Platini wasn't ever Zidane's manager, I distinctly remember a telling response to a question posed to Platini regarding how good a player Zidane is. Platini answered, "Zidane does some extraordinary things, it's true. But you have to put everything in context. What Zidane does with a ball, Maradonna could do with an orange." Sure, it seems innocent and genuine enough. And some would say that it's without a doubt true. But if you read in between the lines, and the WAY he framed the sentence, there's enough suspicion there to make you consider that maybe Platini was feeling threatened by Zidane's ability.
So, you know, the whole thing of Maradona being jealous of Messi isn't as unlikely as people may think. Will it happen? Well let's see. Personally, I hope it doesn't. It'd be just the most amazing story if Maradona coached them to a World Cup victory.
p.s. I love it when articles inspire me/challenges me to think like this. I just got in a flow and wrote. And because it's a comment and not an article, I didn't have to worry so much about the formatting and 'styling' the comment. Thanks Alejandro.
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