25 years ago today

June 22nd 1986. First there was this....


...and a few minutes later, this.



Wow, time flies.

A tribute to Diego Maradona

Maradona: It takes an Argentine....

Over at True/Slant, Marcelo Ballvé today writes on Diego Maradona and this humble corner of cyberspace thoroughly recommends his note as a fair and balanced piece of journalism on the man. Ballvé has the advantages of 1) being Argentine himself 2) being away from the cauldron that is Argentina 3) being a good and perceptive writer. The result is an excellent summary of the life of one of South America's most famous sons. Here's a small extract as an appetite-whetter.

For better or worse, the Maradona highlight reel looms over the sport.

On Saturday, for example, the United States played England, and the English goalie botched a relatively easy save, clumsily fumbling the ball into the goal, allowing the underdog Americans to tie the game. The next day an English tabloid dubbed the incident “Hand of Clod.”

Soccer fans would know instantly that the quip is not original, but an allusion to Maradona’s line about his notorious goal against England in the quarterfinals of a World Cup 24 years ago in Mexico.

In that game, Maradona leapt to contest a ball near the goal, and coming up against the limits of his diminutive stature, punched it into the goal with his fist. The referee didn’t spot the handball, and Argentina won the game 2-1.

Asked later if it had been a handball, Maradona declared straight-faced it had been the “hand of God.”

However, this same gold-chain decorated midfielder who cheated to score one goal, also delivered a score in the same game considered the most brilliant World Cup score ever. It was a one-man dribbling assault from half-field with a perfect finish. Maradona led Argentina to win that World Cup.

Glory and shame, in equal measures— that has been Maradona’s legacy.

Read the whole thing here. Highly recommended.

Argentina: Maradona selects his team for the October match vs Peru

Kind of early, but the formation is interesting:

Pele versus Maradona, round 320

Pele doesn't like Diego Maradona. This is basically because, deep down, Pele knows that Maradona was a better footballer than him. In fact Maradona is the greatest soccer player ever to walk the planet, but that's another story.

Pele is always dissing Maradona, and his usual line of attack is to question Maradona's infamous private life. And hey, it's easy to knock Diego for this as he's a arch-disaster by anyone's standards and probably lucky to be alive after all the crap he's put into his body.

So Pele had another dig at Diego last week, saying this, that and the other and in particular that, "Maradona is a negative example. He was an excellent player, but unfortunately all the world can see what he has done with his life."

So last night Maradona came back with the round-winning quote:

"He (Pele) lost his virginity with a young boy, so I don't know what a good example is."

I love Diego. ¡Que Viva El 10!

One day I'll write the long post I've promised myself I'll write that explains why Diego is the greatest, why Pele was, is and always will be an inferior player and person, and why Maradona is an important figure in the South American psyche.


UPDATE: EG write in the comments section;

"I love him too! Even when I hate him."

Exactly, EG...exactly.

Mixed bag of links

Naked Capitalism on the US banks. Yves Smith nails the current situation with this analysis. I do try to steer clear of all things non-LatAm on the blog, but this synthesis of recent happenings and the insight offered is too good to miss.

Bloomie's Kueffner on Ecuador bonds. Seems to me that the FinMin is trying its very hardest to delay any full-on confrontation with bondholders until after the April coronation of Studmuffin. BT, Kueffner is proof that Bloomie does have decent reporters..I tend to forget that sometimes.

Reuters on Argentine futbol. There's a big thing going on about Riquelme's decision to sulk in a corner. I'm happy that he's excluded himself from the side as we have a chance of winning the World Cup now (yeah...we).

Peru gov't getting in on the bailout act. Doe Run (those very polluting smelter owners East of Lima) have a serious cash crisis and the Twobreakfasts gov't is rushing to help. Doe Run has already laid off 1,100 workers at La Oroya....but don't let that worry you...move along now...nothing to see here....let's check those GDP figures again, yeah?

Friday OT: Sport is a great teacher

For example, it can teach us the difference between greatness and mediocrity.

Take, for example, Terry Butcher and Diego Maradona. Back in 1986 in Mexico, Butcher was the defender Maradona beat not once but twice while scoring the greatest ever goal in a World Cup Final (and quite possibly the greatest goal ever). He was also close witness to Maradona's first goal that day, the infamous "Hand of God".

Here's what the two players have to say about each other 22 years later. Spot the difference between the leader and the pack.

Terry Butcher: "The Hand of God was a strange thing. I was angrier about the second goal because of the way he beat me. He beat the other players just once but he beat me twice....Maradona's a cheat. I'll never let it go. I still hate him with a passion. Little bastard."

Diego Maradona: "Who's Terry Butcher?"

A small victory

To celebrate the winning debut versus Scotland (1-0, international friendly, Maxi Rodriguez scored the goal) of the world's greatest ever player as his national team manager, here's d10s in full Braveheart gear.

Caricature by the wonderfully talented Sebastian Domenech