Johannesburg: Please, his daughters implored, no more tracksuits on the day of a match. So Diego Maradona put on a coat and tie to coach Argentina's World Cup opener. At first, he seemed stiff and uncomfortable, a man appearing before a judge to be sentenced.
Quickly, though, Maradona began smiling like the father of the bride. He kissed the Nigerian opponents on the cheek. He kissed his own players in a 1-0 victory on Saturday. He grabbed his star forward Lionel Messi in a bearhug and lifted him off the ground.
They will remain bound through the rest of the World Cup: Maradona, 49, and Messi, soon to be 23. One perhaps the greatest soccer star ever, the other the best of his generation. One volatile, the other quiet. Both gripped in a complicated relationship with Argentina and with each other, dancing a mesmerizing soccer tango as Argentina seeks its first title since Maradona hoisted the trophy in 1986 with help from the so-called Hand of God.
"There is a very strong emotional link between Maradona and Argentine society," said Fortunato Mallimaci, a sociologist at the University of Buenos Aires. "He is an idol. But in this World Cup, there is a second idol: Messi. And there is a clash of two gods, the old and the new. But Messi still hasn't fully won over Argentine society. If he plays well, there will be an explosion of sympathy for him and the team. But if Argentina doesn't play well, they'll both be in the mud and the idols will lose a lot of followers."
Argentina will play Thursday against relentless South Korea. So far, so good. Messi was brilliant against Nigeria, yo-yoing through defenders as if the ball were being released and yanked back on a string. He was free and spellbinding, the way he has played so often for Barcelona, his club team, and not often enough for Argentina, his national team.
Why the disparity? The theories are as tangled as the beard that Maradona wears to camouflage bite marks from his pet dog.
Some believe Maradona is jealous of Messi, who came of age in a globalized world, every match on television, every goal on YouTube. Others believe Messi is not dedicated enough to the national team, and not sufficiently Argentine, having moved to Barcelona to receive underwritten treatments of growth hormone as an undersize boy who still bears the nickname Flea.
Perhaps, some fans believe, Messi feels the pressure of being compared to Maradona. And the comparisons are inevitable: the left-footedness, low center of gravity, ball control, acceleration, change of direction, instinctive passing, luminous virtuosity.
"The jersey is heavy," said Cristian Scarpetta, 33, an Argentine fan attending the World Cup. His view, not uncommon, is that the heart of Argentina's team is not Messi, but another forward, Carlos Tévez, a populist favorite born to poor circumstances like Maradona.
"Messi is good," Scarpetta said, "but it will take the spirit of Tévez to bring the group to glory."
Still others watch from afar and believe the real reason for the inequity in Messi's play is housekeeping, not allegiance. Barcelona has Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta catering to his needs as willing and unsurpassed midfield valets.
"Barcelona has players who feed the needs of Messi; in Argentina they don't have that yet," said Jorge Severini, an Argentine who played in the North American Soccer League in the 1970s and is a longtime high school coach in suburban Philadelphia. "But in the World Cup there is more concern for fair play. A player can liberate himself. Maybe this can be the World Cup of Messi."
Much has been made about a solicitous meeting in April, when Maradona visited Messi, asking how he thought the lineup should look. He has since said that he built Argentina as a Rolls-Royce with Messi as the driver. On Saturday, Messi eagerly wore the chauffeur's hat, skillfully navigating the traffic of Nigeria's defense.
"I want him to be always on the ball," an elated Maradona said. "Football would not be so beautiful if you couldn't see Messi doing crazy things."
For his part, Messi has pleaded embarrassment in being compared to Maradona, calling it an affront to his coach. "To be the best player in the world, I have to prove it at the World Cup," Messi said before the tournament.
In 1986, Maradona did just that, scoring two of soccer's most famous goals in the quarterfinals against England. The first came on a hand ball that escaped the referee's rebuke, as Maradona put it, by divine intervention. The second came on a long slalom run that is widely considered the best goal of the 20th century.
While unpredictability served him as a player, erratic behavior has made Maradona's life problematic off the field. His moods have swung up and down like his weight. He has battled dependencies to cocaine and alcohol. He was ejected from the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for the stimulant ephedrine. He has shot at reporters with an air rifle and recently he ran over a journalist's foot with his car, then cursed at him.
"He has multiple personalities; he's 100 people in one," said Matias Fuse, 35, an Argentine fan here.
In a way, Maradona's volatility reflects the broader political and economic upheaval in Argentina during his lifetime, said Sebastian M. Saiegh, an Argentine who is a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego.
"You can see other Argentines who are iconic figures — Eva Perón and Che Guevara — and they, too, had a polarizing effect," Saiegh said in a telephone interview. "You can't be indifferent about him. He likes to have that unpredictability. As a player, when it looked like he was turning left, he turned right. The other day he wore a suit. You don't know what's going to happen. He likes that."
Unpredictability, though, can be maddening in a coach. Argentina struggled to qualify for the World Cup. When it did, Maradona left such sturdy defensive players as Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti off the roster, days after they helped Inter Milan win the European Champions League title.
"Maradona is not a coach," a fan named Pablo Lavesari, 48, said in Buenos Aires. "He doesn't have the technical or tactical skills. But what he does have is the persona to motivate his players."
And yet, it was Maradona's tactical adjustment — moving Gabriel Heinze farther out in the penalty area before a corner kick — that left Heinze unmarked for a header on the winning goal against Nigeria.
"Diego prepared us and we practiced for a couple of hours," said midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón, who took the kick.
All of Argentina is waiting to see what happens next. If he wins the World Cup, Maradona has vowed to ditch his suit and run naked through the streets of Buenos Aires.
"Who knows, he might do it," Saiegh, the political scientist, said. "If he does, a lot of people will follow. I don't think anybody will try to stop them."
Charles Newbery contributed reporting from Buenos Aires.
 |
They will remain bound through the rest of the World Cup: Maradona, 49, and Messi, soon to be 23. One perhaps the greatest soccer star ever, the other the best of his generation. One volatile, the other quiet. Both gripped in a complicated relationship with Argentina and with each other, dancing a mesmerizing soccer tango as Argentina seeks its first title since Maradona hoisted the trophy in 1986 with help from the so-called Hand of God.
"There is a very strong emotional link between Maradona and Argentine society," said Fortunato Mallimaci, a sociologist at the University of Buenos Aires. "He is an idol. But in this World Cup, there is a second idol: Messi. And there is a clash of two gods, the old and the new. But Messi still hasn't fully won over Argentine society. If he plays well, there will be an explosion of sympathy for him and the team. But if Argentina doesn't play well, they'll both be in the mud and the idols will lose a lot of followers."
Argentina will play Thursday against relentless South Korea. So far, so good. Messi was brilliant against Nigeria, yo-yoing through defenders as if the ball were being released and yanked back on a string. He was free and spellbinding, the way he has played so often for Barcelona, his club team, and not often enough for Argentina, his national team.
Why the disparity? The theories are as tangled as the beard that Maradona wears to camouflage bite marks from his pet dog.
Some believe Maradona is jealous of Messi, who came of age in a globalized world, every match on television, every goal on YouTube. Others believe Messi is not dedicated enough to the national team, and not sufficiently Argentine, having moved to Barcelona to receive underwritten treatments of growth hormone as an undersize boy who still bears the nickname Flea.
Perhaps, some fans believe, Messi feels the pressure of being compared to Maradona. And the comparisons are inevitable: the left-footedness, low center of gravity, ball control, acceleration, change of direction, instinctive passing, luminous virtuosity.
"The jersey is heavy," said Cristian Scarpetta, 33, an Argentine fan attending the World Cup. His view, not uncommon, is that the heart of Argentina's team is not Messi, but another forward, Carlos Tévez, a populist favorite born to poor circumstances like Maradona.
"Messi is good," Scarpetta said, "but it will take the spirit of Tévez to bring the group to glory."
Still others watch from afar and believe the real reason for the inequity in Messi's play is housekeeping, not allegiance. Barcelona has Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta catering to his needs as willing and unsurpassed midfield valets.
"Barcelona has players who feed the needs of Messi; in Argentina they don't have that yet," said Jorge Severini, an Argentine who played in the North American Soccer League in the 1970s and is a longtime high school coach in suburban Philadelphia. "But in the World Cup there is more concern for fair play. A player can liberate himself. Maybe this can be the World Cup of Messi."
Much has been made about a solicitous meeting in April, when Maradona visited Messi, asking how he thought the lineup should look. He has since said that he built Argentina as a Rolls-Royce with Messi as the driver. On Saturday, Messi eagerly wore the chauffeur's hat, skillfully navigating the traffic of Nigeria's defense.
"I want him to be always on the ball," an elated Maradona said. "Football would not be so beautiful if you couldn't see Messi doing crazy things."
For his part, Messi has pleaded embarrassment in being compared to Maradona, calling it an affront to his coach. "To be the best player in the world, I have to prove it at the World Cup," Messi said before the tournament.
In 1986, Maradona did just that, scoring two of soccer's most famous goals in the quarterfinals against England. The first came on a hand ball that escaped the referee's rebuke, as Maradona put it, by divine intervention. The second came on a long slalom run that is widely considered the best goal of the 20th century.
While unpredictability served him as a player, erratic behavior has made Maradona's life problematic off the field. His moods have swung up and down like his weight. He has battled dependencies to cocaine and alcohol. He was ejected from the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for the stimulant ephedrine. He has shot at reporters with an air rifle and recently he ran over a journalist's foot with his car, then cursed at him.
"He has multiple personalities; he's 100 people in one," said Matias Fuse, 35, an Argentine fan here.
In a way, Maradona's volatility reflects the broader political and economic upheaval in Argentina during his lifetime, said Sebastian M. Saiegh, an Argentine who is a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego.
"You can see other Argentines who are iconic figures — Eva Perón and Che Guevara — and they, too, had a polarizing effect," Saiegh said in a telephone interview. "You can't be indifferent about him. He likes to have that unpredictability. As a player, when it looked like he was turning left, he turned right. The other day he wore a suit. You don't know what's going to happen. He likes that."
Unpredictability, though, can be maddening in a coach. Argentina struggled to qualify for the World Cup. When it did, Maradona left such sturdy defensive players as Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti off the roster, days after they helped Inter Milan win the European Champions League title.
"Maradona is not a coach," a fan named Pablo Lavesari, 48, said in Buenos Aires. "He doesn't have the technical or tactical skills. But what he does have is the persona to motivate his players."
And yet, it was Maradona's tactical adjustment — moving Gabriel Heinze farther out in the penalty area before a corner kick — that left Heinze unmarked for a header on the winning goal against Nigeria.
"Diego prepared us and we practiced for a couple of hours," said midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón, who took the kick.
All of Argentina is waiting to see what happens next. If he wins the World Cup, Maradona has vowed to ditch his suit and run naked through the streets of Buenos Aires.
"Who knows, he might do it," Saiegh, the political scientist, said. "If he does, a lot of people will follow. I don't think anybody will try to stop them."
Charles Newbery contributed reporting from Buenos Aires.
