BREAKING NEWS: Diego Maradona Appointed As New Head Coach of Argentina

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Posted from  Germany

On Olé, Mascherano has said that he didn’t want to be the captain. Tevez told that Messi shouldn’t be it neither. Did Maradona proposed them? De Michelis would be an obvious choice. One thing is sure, it’s the anonymous end of career of capitano Zanetti.

People must really stop with Veron. He belongs to the past. Especially because of Lucho, Banega & Gago.

Riquelme is a friend of Maradona. Diego told that the NT should not turn around Roman & Messi. He is going to work on it. For him, Argentina should be competitive whoever are the players used.

On a different note, I read on JOHN’s blog that Grondona demanded to Basile to not play with 3 defenders. If this is true, i would understand better why Basile was often obstinate with his 4-3-1-2.

If I remember correctly, Bilardo likes to play a 3-men defence (which would suit perfectly with the qualities of our group).

Bilardo has also used 5 in the back, with a “libero” as last man. Remember?
Almost like a “Cattenagio”.

Posted from  United States

you’re correct Albo.. he attacks 3-5-2 but defends 5-3-2 with like you said the ‘floating’ last man. not sure how’s he going to work with us the dearth of wing players. Maxi Rod, I can see slot back, but not so much Di Maria. And hopefully no Jonas. This will make us explosive in the counter attack and provide width. but oh god, we’re sounding like a Euro team. While Bilardo is in the defensive school of Argy football, Diego will not adhere to that strictly as he will want the ball to be passed around; so hopefully it’s the best of both worlds.

Even after 2 days to think about it, I still have no idea what to expect. Will it be a train-wreck? Or will Maradona, for whom life bears no middle ground and is one that is full of extremes, be able to cap his latest comeback to good health with the WC10 trophy. I mean, it’s so hard to figure this out. He seems more mature now and less petulant. but what happens when we lose and the media has a go at Maradona, what will happen then? how will he police the locker room.. so many questions….

It’s a fact, Bilardo is considered in Argentina like a defensive type of coach.

Posted from  United States

Something I still can’t get over is the blantant way in which Maradona was elected coach of our NT by Grondona’s two sons.
Today, there was another article on Olé where Julio Grondona Jr. sends a mesage to Bianchi.
he said “you have to love La Albiceleste to get to coach it.
And that is such cheap populist rubish, (Maradona style). He said that because Bianchi doesn’t like Grondona not La Albiceleste.
Let it be known that in polls organized by Clarín, La Nación and Infobae, 75% of the argies voted against Maradona.

Posted from  United States

Until the players as in the rugby or suporters or club presidents combine then this mafiosi and his sons will rule over Argentine football Albo.

Condolences regarding Pedro Pompilo and at such a relatively young age. He was Macris right hand man at building up Boca to face the challenges of the global football world.

Sadly down at El Monumental Aguilar and friends seem intent on ruining River. It is sad to see the team that pioneered La Maquina and the cradle of di Stefano in sich a plight.

They should be one of the worlds top teams but seem to sell on every player after a few months. It is a tribute to the youth trainers at these clubs that they continue to produce such gifted players.

It would be nice to see these clubs along with Independiente, Racing etc dominate club football in South America too.

Happy bithday to Dios. Its only fair to give him a chance and I hope he suceeds with his ideas backed by Bilardos knowledge.

However the pathetic mud slinging and insults relating to Diegos past have already begun to surface in many comments ignoring his recent exemplary behaviour. I don’t condone drug taking. Idiots take drugs and I have never touched them or drunk alcohol or smoked knowing at an early age from diseased organs what damage they can do.

I don’t even condone help for addicts. ts a self inflicted choice. But Diego has taken the right choice and should e praised at least for that.

Lets hope his fire can ignite this team and make the players perform and hopefuly Cavegol, Garay etc get their chance.

He should get a warm welcome in Glasgow and has said as much. Lets hope its a winning start and good preperation for Venuzuela.

Chau amigos.

He has hinted that Messi will be included despite Barca asking him not tobe included in friendlies.

By diseased organs I mean seeing them removed from cadavers ie sufferers of alcoholism and heavy smoking. Not a pleasant sight. As they say out of sight ,out of mind.

I thankfully am in tip top shape .

I don’t know why the stupid pele always comment about Maradona.Look up your face before want to comment someone.Maradona is a cool man.Pele is a person who never want to see Maradona success.Pele is a troublemaker he is not a superstar futbol but he is a superstar big talk.Even Maradona is not my choice to be a NT coach, i hope he can do what he has done with Argentina in 1986 World cup.Muchas Gracias Burruchaga,Monzon,Pasculli,Ruggeri,Pumpido,Giusti,Luis Islas,Borghi,Enrique,Batista and now is for your turn Di Maria,Messi,Aguero,lavezzi,Acosta,Garay,Romero,Ustari,Zabaleta and other.Vamos Argentina FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT………..My heart for futbol only for Argentina….Don’t cry for me Argentina again like 2006 world cup.If you cry i also will cry.

Posted from  Malaysia

boy what’s the hatred against pele? I know this is an argentina thing and I am walking into the lion’s den but having seen both play I understand two things: first, pele and maradona are not geniuses or intellectuals so I take their words knowing where they come from and second, history is always clearer in the distance of time and when time passes pele will be atop the pile because of his achievements which surpass those of any other player in history. simple fact is that history remembers the winners above the losers and when the scorecard is compared pele has more to show than maradona and whether maradona could have done more had he not fallen to drugs will be irrelevant in history.

anyways I guess time will tell if picking maradona was the right choice. personally I think bianchi should have been selected but the cult of maradona is far to emotionally irrational to argue against it.

Posted from  United States

Mane, Pele did not win the World Cup all by himself. He played in 3 different great team, period. Maradona did it all by himself. He wasn’t just the playmaker or the captain. He was the team motivator, spiritual leader, guidance on the pitch etc.

Of course Diego has his own bad history. I’m sure everyone one of us has done some stupid mistake in the past. Don’t you think that every person deserves another chance in life.

If Pele was that squicky clean then perhaps if he should have done some checkking on his own son, remember?

Even Romario once said “When Pele says nothing, he is poet”.

Posted from  Malaysia

Peles jealousy is legendary for example to Dinho. His teamates some of whom can be regarded as being just as good if not better than him get scant coverage as his media bandwagon travels round the globe.

Eusebio and Puskas were as good as him but they didn’t constantly surface in the press demanding to be taken note of. Over time his abilities have become a myth.

I’ll say it again. Ask players and ex-players who they regard as the best : From Zizou , Platini ,Charlton, Beckenbauer , van Basten , Cruyff and all the others comes one word Maradona.

Charlton on Maradona. He could do things with the ball no other player I have ever seen could do. He is the best.

As John adds Romarios comment is perfect.

Diego played in average Argentine sides and even when half fit led the team to a final in 1990 and uring 1994 the team was flying. That third against Greece is as good an example of team close control and movement and finishin as I’ve seen.

Saludos.

BAD NEWS!
it seems like maradona will get the chance to prove himself earliar.
CONMEBOL.spoke person nestor benitez said that on november 25 they will discuss the possibilaty that COPA AMERICA will me held this year 2009 in mexico.COPA AMERICA wasnt planned to be played this year at all.
i hoped 2009 was e free summer for our players,so they can rest before 2010 world cup.

Posted from  Serbia And Montenegro

well like I wrote I am not argentinian nor brazilian. I had the opportunity to see both players in their prime and yes, maradona was a great player but he was never as complete as pele was. again, I am simply speaking about what I saw. I first saw pele in the 1970 mexico world cup and then saw him twice in person when he played with santos and a host of times on television and the guy was absolutely amazing in all regards. many make the mistake of talking about pele as a pure striker when he actually played the attacking midfield before such term was even created and another aspect that is not as known is that upwards to the 1974 world cup the rules allowed for a rougher game so while maradona was fouled ad-nauseum pele and other players in the pre-1974 era were literally attacked physically in such a way that maradona never ever experienced. heck I remember pele playing in dirt fields and it was rough, really rough. the uncle of a friend of mine was a defender who played once against santos and he commented that he tried to tackle pele and if he could break his leg he would have, seriously.

that pele played amongst great players should in my opinion be something that talks about his stature as a player rather than diminish it. players like rivelinho, jairzinho or tostao could challenge maradona and yet pele outshined never becoming a target man but a key component of the team and in santos pele was the cornerstone of the team which leads me to yet another myth believed by people who are just too young to have seen pele play, that pele didn’t play in europe is meaningless because pele did play against european teams in the international cup and his santos pulverized them. europe was not then the mecca of football it’s today. one interesting fact is that brazil didn’t lose a single game when pele and garrincha played together and btw garrincha is an easy challenger to the best player ever title and he was better than maradona by far.

as for personal lives well who cares about that? these are merely football players and not intellectuals or spiritual leaders and most athletes fall prey to their own fame from ali to monzon, from pele to maradona these are only barrio guys who made money by being good at a sport and nothing more.

Posted from  United States

ALFIO,
If there is a Copa America in 2009 we won’t win WC 2010, it would be impossible. Unless we play an Argentina-B team in summer 2009. really scary news!

Great News I must say . Like Everyone says it isnot a clever move by AFA for Argentine NT Football but still better step than to Keep Basile with no hope.
I wish El Diego all the success.
My thinking says only Maxi Rodriguez / Macherano has the captaincy capabilities but thats an audience’s judgement.
I was just talkin to my dad on the day we lost to Chile that Coach of NT needs a person who is in the combination of Bilardo & Pekerman while the captain with will power and leadership like Maradona and we got a coaching team that is made of Maradona and Bilardo.

I must say we will loose most of the friendlies since the DM/Bilardo will do experiments with playing style and few players ( they should experiment with players too but that not Bilardo’s style , he would like to make a team of cohesive players before even entering last 6 months to WC ).
Argentina NT will bring crowds with added member of Maradona. I hope he comes this tuesday to Cyprus to watch Argie players of Inter in CL
We will NOT enter the WC10 as favourites but as a good team (unlike previous WCs), thats good as per my point of view.
My starting line up considering the new changes:
3-2-3-2 while defending 4-5-1-1 , Maxi will be key (so I hope he does not get injured).
I don’t want to see Riquelme until he gets back to his fitness levels he needs same rest as Messi. May be Aimar will be recalled for playmaker.
Coaching ‘TEAM’ has lots of players to choose from and Diego is added motivation for them unless they are not interested .
I hope Hienze says good bye to NT or accepts only a squad position. He does too many mistakes and gets nervous creates nervousness. Tevez should be another squad member or given time to get his skills back. Collocini’s time is up.
I would prefer Zarate and Cavenagi/Higuain given a chance atleast in friendlies.

I hope it will be beauty to watch , we will see whats in store, but atleast now its interesting with added hope.

Just would like to Mention , nice post by Mane, I agree that given the facts Garrincha-Pele-Maradona would be the order of better players. But only Diego moved peoples hearts in a level that no one did. So emotionaly I am always with Diego Maradona as the best player (atleast for me).

Keep posting !!!

Posted from  Australia

I continue to say that I think and would like us to play as I see barcelona playing right now. We have the players to do it. It is essential that Messi have two forwards playing with him and making runs to open things up. I think cavenaggi higuain or aguero would be good combos upfront with Messi playing right behind them and of course rovering all over the field. That is how you best use Messi. I think Maradona will see this.

Posted from  United States

Heinze is a leader in the team and is very passionated. If I’m correct, Maradona has already said that Heinze would start as a central defender.

Elegant and technical Coloccini will certainly be part of the team too. I’m positive Maradona will give priority to technical defenders such as Gonzalo, Colo, Garay, De Michelis.

The captain will be one of these leaders: De Michelis, Maxi Rodriguez, Heinze and even maybe Mascherano, Riquelme or Coloccini.

The problem is that WC 2010 is only in 1,5 years so the coaching staff could be afraid to do too much changes, and start a totally new & young defence (what should have been done after la Copa).

What I love with Maradona is that when one player will be unefficient on the field, whether it is Aguero, Messi or Riquelme, he won’t hesitate to sub them. I think he will really do what he believes because he’s Maradona and can afford it. Of course, I hope he’ll do the best…

Maradona has heard in the medias & for the first time, the voice of someone optimistic: Rafa Benitez who said positive things about him for a near future.

TODDUTAH
4-3-3 is not in the Argentinean culture unlike at Barca. Anyway, with our amazing players any kind of system would be efficient if the players are used at their correct position. The objective is to play a maximum of our best players in a suitable system, whatever it is. We haven’t good fullbacks (what happens if Monzon gets injured during WC 2010?). So there shouldn’t be a debate. 3-5-2 is its answer. I hope Maradona & Bilardo are already discussing about this choice.

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Posted from  United States

It has been confirmed that, besides coaching the young NTs (sub-17 and sub-20), Checho Batista and Tata Brown will be Maradona’s assistants on the major Albicelste team.

Posted from  United States

Mane, you describe Maradona very less.
Maradona is the one who rocks the world. Maradona is far better than Pele.
“MARADONA”, this name is the most popular name than any other player. No one was and no one will be a great player like him. He made argentina proud and also Napoli.

Posted from  Australia

New thread up.

Posted from  United States

hi noori,
well of course maradona would be more current as he is fresher in the public’s memory and that is understandable but history didn’t begin with pele or maradona and will not end with them either. there are some individuals who for very unique reasons mark their sport and certainly pele and maradona have done that for soccer but I would say that garrincha was better than either one of pele or maradona although he is not a marquee name in history.

Posted from  United States

you are right but i still prefer Maradona

Posted from  Pakistan