Friday, July 9, 2010

Argentina Football: Should Diego Maradona Continue to be the Coach?

In the end, Diego Maradona could not create history in this world cup football 2010 as his team crashed out from the quarterfinal. The fans felt disappointed but they were more or less happy with their coach. Now, the question comes whether Maradona should continue to be the coach of Argentina national football team.
There is no doubt that Maradona is one of the two greatest players of all time- the other being Pele. Even as a coach, he is not bad. He took charge of Argentina football team at a time when the team was struggling even to qualify for World Cup 2010. There were some world class players in the team but they were not performing well as a unit. There was a lot of criticism against Messi that he was not trying his best for the country.
Maradona successfully led his team to qualify for the FIFA 2010. There were some elements of luck too. Anyway, in FIFA 2010, Argentina won all the matches in their Group and scored 7 goals and conceded just one in the group stage. Then, in the round of 16, they defeated Mexico comprehensively 3-1.
Up to that stage, it was like a fairy tale run- winning all the four matches. Then they suffered humiliating defeat against Germany in the quarterfinal. The main success of Maradona was that he could bring the best out of Messi and Tevez.
Even the journalists and football experts praised Maradona during the world cup and they found little fault with his strategy. So, it shows that he is not a bad coach. He can surely improve and become a better and more successful coach in the next 4 years until World Cup 2014 which is going to be held in Brazil.
On the negative side, it seems that Diego Maradona is more consumed with emotion rather than strategy or tactics. A coach needs to be a calm type of person who can calculate very well both on and off the pitch. He might have some lacking in this department.
The next major tournament Argentina is going to play is Copa America 2011 and it will take place next year in July. So, whether Maradona stays or not as the coach of national team until that time, it is important to work on the weak points of the national team. Argentine defense looked very weak in FIFA 2010. The midfield was not impressive.
So, even if Maradona is not kept as the coach of national team, he should be given the job of working with some midfield players to develop the players.

5 comments:

  1. His is still capable of recreating the magic. Just look when maradona and his team is gone the craze of world cup gone too.

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  2. I have seen GOD who used to play for Argentina.His name is DAM.I am very much assured of the fact that he will create another DAM By the end of 2014 FIFA WC

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  3. Argentina has too many good players to be wasted on a coach-in-training. His defense was a disaster and his midfield was impotent without Veron. Worst of all, these mistakes were easily preventable, but he makes selection decisions based on emotions and personal enmities. So we have Otamendi playing right back and Heinze at left back while Samuel and Zanetti are sitting pretty.

    All the people who support Maradona as coach suffer from the same problem of placing emotion over reason. He is not some lucky charm who can magically impart his 1986 form onto his players. You would think Germany have laid that myth to rest.

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  4. You need someone sensible to coach the team, one who uses his intellect over his emotion. I am sorry, Maradona should never be the coach of the team. He was my favorite player, I had his pictures all over my room. But as a coach, surely not. The coach should never bring his own past memories and emotions into it.

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  5. Maradona we love you but as a coach you are awe full. please resign for the sake of Argentine Football.

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