Giovanni Scalzo
Business Manager
When it comes to soccer, Argentina is a world superpower. With two world cup titles to her name, Argentina has been blessed with a number of world-class players, from Alfredo Di Stefano to Diego Maradona and up to the present day with Lionel Messi to name a few. However, despite her rich history and depth of current talent, Argentines are heart-broken to see their national team in such critical condition under the coaching of Maradona. And with only two games left to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, Argentines will be praying that Maradona, El D10s, can revive and resurrect life back into an ailing Argentine national team.
Maradona took command of the Argentine national team less than almost a year ago in early November, 2008. Since this time, Argentina has played eight qualifying matches, winning only three of them, while losing her last three consecutive games. This below-par performance has left Argentina sitting fifth in the South American World Cup qualifying zone with just two games left to play.
The top four teams of South America automatically qualify for South Africa, while a fifth place finish results in a two-leg playoff against the fourth placed team of North America. While Argentina can still place fourth in South America, they will need to improve on their past performances and hope that the currently fourth placed Ecuador cannot salvage many points in their next two games. However, if Argentina does place fifth, she runs the risk of entering a playoff round against North American competition that could end her run to South Africa.
While she does require some luck in seeing Ecuador drop points over their next two games, Argentina needs to focus on her next two games and improve as a squad, as these two objectives are the only ones that are within her control.
While Maradona has come under much criticism as coach for his lack of experience and Argentina’s poor performance under his leadership, he should be respected for the mere fact that he is willing to risk his prestige and divine status in Argentina where he is already worshipped for the benefit of his national team that was not performing very well when he replaced his predecessor either. But criticism followed Maradona throughout his career as a player and it is partially a contributing factor to his success in his playing days. He thrived under pressure as a player and so he now must find a way to replicate this as coach.
Hopefully, under-fire coach Maradona can select a solid starting eleven and motivate his squad to perform at a high level that reflects the ability and prestige of an Argentine national team looking to win the 2010 World Cup and emulate its last success of 1986 when El D10s, then a player, dazzled the world and lead Argentina to World Cup glory.