The Friday OT: Messi/Maradona

This is a one-of-a-kind, flabbergasting goals compilation video.

What the dudes over at Argentine telly program 'TVR' did was to splice together goals scored by Lionel Messi with similar goals scored previously by Maradona. The result is 1) sublime football footage and 2) really really spooky to see how similar they are.

A special Friday OT for those that understand the game. Enjoy five minutes of beauty, if you're Castilian-challenged fret not over the Spanish used here and there (you're missing little, the action is everything) and last but not least enjoy the Manu Chao track that accompanies, 'La Vida Tombola'.

Si yo fuera Maradona, viviría como él......

Any subject you like...

....as long as it isn't futbol.

Paraguay 1, Argentina 0 tonight, with Paraguay deserving the win fair and square. Great goal, too.

Argentina now in the 5th placed playoff position behind Ecuador and only one point ahead of Uruguay (their opponents in the final round). Argentina plays Peru at home next and the way they're playing that's no guarantee home win, either. Uff...they say "lucky in money unlucky in love" don't they? double uff

Now tell me all 'bout it, Sketch ;-)

Bolivia 6, Argentina 1: Here are all the goals

This is not an April Fool's joke.

Bolivia has just beaten Argentina 6-1 in La Paz and here's a 2 1/2 minute youtube with all the goals. To put it into context, this is the equal worst result ever for the Argentina national team. They lost 6-1 to Czechoslovakia back in 1958 at the Sweden World Cup finals. There was also the famous 5-0 defeat at home to Colombia in 1993. In other words, today is one to remember for soccer afficionados. Welcome to international level football management, Diego.

As for Evo Morales, he got on a plane from Qatar early and made a 15 hour flight back to Bolivia specifically so that he could get to the game on time. His reaction, according to this report, can't really be translated but it's still great. "¡Que goleada, papá!"

Today a man was elected..........

........who has the hopes and dreams of an entire nation riding on his shoulders. Here's CNN with the details.

(CNN) -- Football legend Diego Maradona has been officially confirmed as the new coach of the Argentina national side. Julio Grondona, the president of the Argentinian Football Association, made the much-anticipated announcement in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.

"Today is a special day for Argentinian football," said Grondona.

Maradona, 48, will be assisted by former Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo, who will act as general manager. Maradona's first match in charge wil be a friendly against Scotland in Glasgow on November 19. He then faces a tougher task in making sure Argentina qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals from the South American group.

"It's an honor," Maradona said. "It's a dream come true. I'm going to give it my all to make sure yada yada continues here

The biggest news from Argentina this year

Forget the strikes, the protests, the politics the economy. Diego Maradona is the new manager of the Argentina national team.

If you've ever been to Argentina, even for a long weekend, you'll know how big this news really is. He'll be backed by "technical secretary" (aka right hand man) Carlos Bilardo, the same team that brought Argentina its 1986 World Cup success.

That's a smart move by AFA and gives Diego plenty of technical experience to fall back on.

Right now, Argentina is around 6/1 fourth favourite to win the World Cup in 2010. That means Maradona is a 6/1 chance to become the most celebrated Argentine in history...and by a long, long way. Forget Evita Peron, Che Guevara, Borges, and all the others. If Diego brought the World Cup back to his country he'd move past demi-god status and have churches re-named in his honour. If you think I'm joking, you don't know much about Argentina.

Update: On Clarin.com they're running a survey, the question is "Do you agree with the choice of Maradona as the next manager of Argentina?" These Clarin surveys usually get maybe 5,000 votes in the space of 12 hours. Here's how the vote stands after four hours:

Yes 26.2 % (17,605 votes)

No 73.8 % (49,468 votes)