Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
A not so happy birthday for Maradona
Diego Maradona is spending his 50th birthday on Saturday far from the two things that have dominated his life -- soccer and being constantly in the public eye.
That leaves Argentina’s greatest player at a crossroads a few short months after a humiliating 4-0 defeat by Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals cost him the job as coach of his beloved Argentina.
Having cheated death more than once and defied doubters to get the job in November 2008, it would be unwise to write off his chances of returning to it one day.
Indeed, former Boca Juniors and Argentina team mate and friend Claudio Caniggia saw him recently and confirmed Maradona was still interested.
“He looked well,” Caniggia said in an interview with the sports daily Ole published on Thursday.
“Obviously, there’s pain. He still hopes for a chance, but he’s well,” said Caniggia, who pointed out that far more experienced coaches have been unable to steer Argentina beyond the last eight since 1990. “Although he doesn’t say so to me, I’m sure inside himself he thinks he deserves to carry on. I think he deserved to.”
The job is, in fact, still open with Maradona’s 1986 World Cup-winning team mate Sergio Batista enjoying a head start as the interim coach and the backing of Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona.
