Don’t be fooled by the formal announcement from Buenos Aires that Maradona’s contract will not be renewed.
There is nothing that Diego likes more than to be placed in a situation where he can rally his believers round a claim of martyrdom by sinister powers. He did so when he was busted for drugs back in the early 1990’s, he did it again when he tested positive in the US World Cup. He is likely to seize this moment as part of the latest round of an enduring struggle between himself and the forces linked to the president of the Argentine Football Association Julio Grondona.
If this were happening in another country then the reason for Maradona’s sacking should be plain. He may have been once upon a time a great player, and brought us some entertainment in an otherwise rather dull World Cup in South Africa (La Roja’s justified championship win exempted), but Argentina’s thrashing by Germany exposed his shortcomings as a coach. You may bring a smile to TV audiences by kissing your players and dancing like a pogo stick each time your side scores a goal, but this is not the stuff of champions- and Maradona, in the end, badly let down his team of stars.
But then this is Argentina – a country where politics and football make a potent mix. Maradona not only has a popular following among his country’s dispossessed but continues to be looked at as a political vehicle by sectors of the populist government of Cristina Fernandes.
On the psychological front, there are testing times ahead for Maradona, and thus for the Argentine nation. Will he return to bad old days and throw a tantrum? Will he denounce the hidden corruption that allegedly lies behind Argentine football? Will there be now all out war between Maradona and Grondona? Anything and everything is possible.
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