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.
Messi, Maradona and Batista
With Sergio Batista at the Argentina helm, Lionel Messi has the chance to develop into the truly great footballer his talent has promised since last year’s exploits with Barcelona.
It could be that when the Argentine Football Association make their choice of coach for the 2014 Brazil World Cup cycle, they opt for a different candidate from Batista – Alex Sabella of Estudiantes for instance.
But what matters for Messi is that with Batista he really feels he is playing as well as he does with Barcelona – a bone of contention among Argentines throughout last year’s World Cup qualifiers and into the finals in South Africa where with each passing match the tactics of Diego Maradona isolated him more and more.
By the time Argentina crumbled against Germany in their quarter-final, Messi was back in his team’s own half looking for the ball, Javier Mascherano was floundering on his own in a midfield packed with Germans and Juan Sebastian Veron was wasted warming the bench.
Batista has only presided over two friendlies, with a third in Japan coming up on Friday, but he has fielded a midfield that protects and also feeds Messi for the brilliant kind of opening goal in the 4-1 win over Spain in Buenos Aires last month.
Messi has regularly said he feels comfortable with Batista, a combination that helped Argentina win the Olympic gold medal in 2008. He has not criticised Maradona, he even went as far as to say a few days ago he would be happy with either coach.
Batista, though, seeks and gives Argentina a balance lacking under Maradona, who in the eye of many Argentines is now seen as a destabilising influence on the team.
Messi couldnt do anything during the world cup …. he’s only good with Barcelona FC where the players are used to team work, unlike the Argentine squad where every player thinks he’s a Maradona of his own.
did u even hear what Maradona said when the team got eliminated? here’s a briefing about it. i saw it here on http://www.sawfer.com
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
World Cup podcast – day 14
Kevin Fylan, Paul Radford, Andy Cawthorne and Felix Bate discuss a few of the forthcoming second round matches at the World Cup, including the classic Germany v England.
Sportswrap fashion special
It’s a fashion special this week, and no, we’re not talking about Owen’s Gene Hunt, Life on Mars, 1970s suit selection.
Click the headline, press play and join us for an intimate sale of Italian jewellry, a rustle through the racks at Germany’s most exclusive clothes shop and a little spice out on the ice.
Written by Kevin Fylan, presented by Owen Wyatt.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
France break Irish hearts to seal World Cup slot
France ensured the likes of Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Thierry Henry will be at the World Cup in South Africa next year after winning through with a goal that has left Irish fans seething.
There was nothing wrong with the finish from William Gallas, but Thierry Henry admitted using his hand to keep the ball in play and commentators and Irish supporters are already talking of "The Hand of God II" and "The Hand of Henry" in reference to Diego Maradona in 1986.
"Yes, there is handball but I am not the referee," Henry told reporters. "I'm in the box, there are two defenders in front of me. The ball bounced off my hand, the referee did not see it and I played on."
Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni called the goal a "great mistake" by Swedish referee Martin Hansson but he chose not to accuse Henry of cheating.
"I told the referee that it is possible to make great mistakes," Trapattoni told a new conference after the game at Stade de France. "It is a bitter evening."
Trapattoni said he felt the referee should have talked to his assistants and to Henry before awarding the goal.
Having said that, I can perfectly understand the feelings here. Every football fan has had to endure such injustices for their team at one stage or another but it hurts even more in a game with such high stakes.
We are now running the story that the Irish FA are asking FIFA for a replay. I think that’s very unlikely to happen but I guess even making the request makes a point to FIFA and France.
http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/ -/6494536/irish-fa-calls-france-playoff- replayed
Sportswrap’s Hollywood ending
Join Owen Wyatt and myself for our look back at the week in sport. Our focus is on Diego Maradona and the 2010 World Cup qualifying situation in South America, with a quick detour to Celtic Manor to consider next year’s Ryder Cup golf.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Decision day for Argentina: Live blogging the World Cup qualifiers
Unusually, the final night of European World Cup qualifying is a bit of a damp affair. Most of the groups have been decided, with by and large just the second-places, and play-off berths, up for grabs.
Undeterred, we shall keep you up to date with what's going on in Europe as a prelude to the really serious business of the night ... the decisive match in Montevideo, where Argentina are playing for their lives against Uruguay.
Here at Reuters Soccer Blog we particularly welcome comments, so please give us your views on how things are going as the actions progresses.
Come on Argentina! Messi has to get to the World Cup finals!
Infamy! Infamy! Sporting cheats and scams
If Renault are found guilty of the race-fixing charge they face in Paris next week — and the Formula One team announced today they would not be contesting it — the incident will go down as one of the most brazen attempts at rule-breaking in sport.
As our F1 correspondent Alan Baldwin asked on this blog last week, What would you do if someone asked you to drive into a wall?
There are seemingly endless ways to cheat at sport. Here are a few of the most notorious examples from the depths of the sporting archives:
CHICAGO WHITE SOX - After the heavily favored Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, eight players were charged with being paid by gamblers to throw the championship. The players, including the legendary “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, were banned for life.
BORIS ONISCHENKO - Russian pentathlete Boris Onischenko was sent home in disgrace from the 1976 Montreal Olympics after the Soviet Army Major was found to have rigged the electronic scoring system thanks to a circuit-breaker in the handle of his epee.
DIEGO MARADONA - Argentina won a 1986 World Cup soccer quarter-final against England in Mexico 2-1, with Maradona scoring the first of his two goals with his hand. “it was a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God,” the player said in his post-match news conference, coining one of the most famous quotes in sport.
BEN JOHNSON - Days after winning the 100 metres in a world record time at the 1988 Seoul Olympics the Canadian athlete Johnson tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol and was stripped of his gold medal. The media had been captivated by the rivalry between Johnson and Carl Lewis ahead of the race and the Candian’s subsequent positive test shocked the world.
Maradona could be on this list twice. He was kicked out the 1994 World Cup for performance-enhancing drugs. He was also red-carded in the 1982 World Cup for deliberately kicking a Brazilian player in the groin, but that was when he was merely unsportsmanlike, and not yet a cheat.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Maradona untouchable despite latest defeat
Those waiting for Diego Maradona to resign or be sacked after yet another dismal Argentina performance in the World Cup qualifiers forget that he is untouchable.
Maradona will press on blindly, brushing off criticism with remarks about having always fought adversity and come out on top.
The team he led to victory in the 1986 World Cup forged their solidarity in the them-and-us syndrome: Them being influential people in Buenos Aires, like then government Sports secretary Rodolfo O'Reilly, trying to get coach Carlos Bilardo ousted weeks before the tournament in Mexico when they looked a poor team.
Victory served to increase Maradona's self-belief and aura of invincibility.
Maradona recalled on Wednesday night that Argentina were close to elimination in the qualifiers for the 1986 finals and that they had to play Australia in a playoff for the 1994 tournament.
He is the arch-survivor, from the time an uncle plucked him as a little boy out of a cesspit in the shantytown where he grew up to the several occasions when he cheated death by drugs or obesity after retiring as a player.
Whether or not he is a good coach, an astute leader of men, an inspiration to his players doesn't come into it: Faith is the issue and "The Hand of God" claims to have plenty.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Brazil look unbeatable but have they peaked too soon?
Ten wins in a row and unbeaten for eighteen games. The run includes 2-0 and 3-0 wins over Italy, 4-0 wins in Uruguay and Venezuela, 3-0 in Chile and, of course, Saturday's 3-1 demolition of Argentina, the first time Brazil's arch-rivals have lost at home for 16 years. Nothing, it seems, can stand in the way of Dunga's Brazil and and a sixth world title.
There's only one small problem: everyone was saying the same about Carlos Alberto Parreira's team four years ago after they won the Confederations Cup with a 4-1 win over Argentina in the final. Like Dunga's team, they were Copa America champions at the time and their so-called Magic Quarter of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka and Adriano looked unstoppable.
Instead, Brazil relaxed. They took the Confederations Cup too seriously, forgetting that the Argentine side they had beaten was a second-string line-up. Their pre-World Cup training camp in the small Swiss village of Weggis had a carnival atmosphere. Five thousand paying spectators packed a specially constructed arena to watch every single training session. A subdued World Cup campaign ended with a 1-0 defeat to France in the quarter-finals.
This time, the Brazilian confederation has vowed not to repeat the mistakes. Dunga, who shuns celebrity status for both himself and his players, is probably the last coach in the world who would accept such a set-up. But there are other things which could go wrong.
Brazil are heavily dependant on striker Luis Fabiano and goalkeeper Julio Cesar and a loss of form for either player would seriously weaken them.
Luis Fabiano has scored five goals at the Confederations Cup and nine in the World Cup qualifiers despite playing in only nine of their 15 games. They have looked fairly toothless when he has been absent .Julio Cesar has been in inspired form and has often made the difference.
Luck also comes into it and Brazil have been getting all the breaks recently. Their match away to Ecuador in March last June was an extraordinarily one-sided affair in which the hosts should have been several goals to the good by halftime. Instead, Brazil somehow sneaked a 1-1 draw.
