PRETORIA, South Africa — The World Cup proved that Diego Maradona is no coaching genius. Nor was he the clown some expected.
As Argentina’s victories piled up, there seemed to be method in Maradona’s madness. No other team had Argentina’s swashbuckling flair. With Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez slotting in goals and world player of the year Lionel Messi supplying inspiration, passes and even leadership on the field, it was possible to ignore the holes in Maradona’s defense and midfield.
Maradona’s strategy, if it can be called that, was to outscore, not shut out, opponents.
“We are here to give joy to the Argentines, to play as we like, in the way which makes us happy,” he said.
What fun, but naive, too, as Argentina was undressed starkly by Germany in a 4-0 loss Saturday in the quarterfinals. Maradona used enthusiasm to compensate for his inexperience as a coach.
“Nobody ever told me where to play. So, I shouldn’t have to tell Messi where to play either,” Maradona said.
After three group stage wins, he was demanding apologies — “I’m not suggesting you drop your trousers, but it would be honest and great,” he said — from critics who had predicted Argentina could only flop with the former cocaine addict in charge, and waste its best chance in years of winning the World Cup that Maradona lifted as a player in 1986.
The upside of Maradona hogging the limelight in South Africa with his large personality and entertaining and provocative news conferences was that he deflected attention from Messi and why the star forward wasn’t scoring.
But the downside for Argentina was that Maradona failed, as he also did in World Cup qualifying, to make the most of Messi’s goal-scoring abilities.
German manager Joachim Loew thoroughly outthought Maradona. Messi’s attacking runs broke against the rocks of dogged, organized German defending. The Germans played as a well-oiled team, finding each other with just the right pass at just the right time; Argentina, in contrast, looked like talented individuals who just happened to be wearing the same blue and white striped jerseys.
As the German goals mounted up, it grew increasingly clear that Maradona had no answer. He looked so sad on the touchline.
Then he was involved in a brief post-match altercation with celebrating German fans seated behind the Argentina bench, according to an Argentine newspaper report, and had to be restrained by his daughter Dalma. However, Maradona and his team received a warm welcome from thousands of fans who turned out to greet them upon their return to Buenos Aires yesterday.
This World Cup would not have been as much fun without Maradona. But it was always too much to expect that he would be the same genius as a coach as he was as Argentina’s greatest player.
