Friday, October 31, 2008

El Diego or El Loco?

Very few great football players become great managers or coaches. Exceptions to the rule - Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruyff and to a lesser extent, Michel Platini.

Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano may have been two purveyors of the beautiful game but once they swapped their jerseys with the tracksuit, they knew they were not cut out for the job. Pele was smart. He stayed away from the bench so that he could dish out criticisms at people and consistently come up with wrong predictions!

For flawed genius Diego Armando Maradona, cynics are suggesting he would not last long as the Argentina coach.

But I agree with my ex-boss El Loco. Read also Seba and John's take and Maradona's birthday story. Anyway Maradona's autobiography El Diego is a must read for footy fans. Pity there was no mention of Boca Juniors' visit to Kuala Lumpur in 1982, when Maradona had little time to entertain requests for interviews nor autograph signings!

Supermokh (left) and El Diego exchanging pennants, with George Joseph (right), the community leader for Bangsar, looks on. Three years earlier George refereed the FIFA World Youth Cup quarterfinal clash in Tokyo between Argentina and Algeria. Maradona opened the scoring in a match they won 5-0!

6 comments:

John said...

Thanks for mentioning about Seba and me on your article Rizal.

As always there will be two different people when it comes to Diego.

Those who have faith in him and those who doubt.

Me, I'm just thinking let's give him another chance with National team? After all he is a great motivator and fantastic leader.

I'm sure many players in the dressing room will look up to him. His presence will also eliminate all the pri-madonna attitude in the dressing room as well.

Once again, thanks for mentioning Mundo Albiceleste. Gracias!

Seba said...

Rizal...what a great picture! I've never seen it before.

And this bit of your article: "Pele was smart. He stayed away from the bench so that he could dish out criticisms at people and consistently come up with wrong predictions!"...is pure class!

Great stuff. Keep it coming and here's hoping Dieguito can become a good manager.

Anonymous said...

Maradona and Pele have always been locked in the perennial debate of who is the greatest of them all. Veteran sportswriters like Fauzi Omar and Lazarus Kok hate Maradona so much that they have refused to even mention his name. As for me, I admire Pele. Pele is the greatest of them all. Wait a minute, dont exhale yet. But Maradona is from Planet Mars. So that makes Maradona the greatest of them all - in the universe. Whoever disagrees with me is nuts. I rest my case.

Anonymous said...

Aaaah, Diego Maradona, the drug-fueled superstar is now Argentina national coach.

Great player and a great cheat but a world class athlete.

To some he is a God to others, he is a Devil. Either way you look at it, he did bring joy to lots of people but will never be as well loved as Pele.

Good luck Maradona.

Anonymous said...

Rizal,
Patutnya you tulis di sebelah Dato' George Joseph ialah S. Thevendaraj (Pengadil) dan Hj. Mohd. Nor Saud (Penolong Pengadil), ketiga-tiganya dari Selangor.

Memang dulu Selangor banyak melahirkan pengadil-pengadil yang berwibawa. Dalam tahun 70an dan 80an, nama-nama seperti Koh Guan Keat, S. Pooven, Clement Ambrose, N. Subramaniam (sekadar menyebut beberapa nama) manakala tahun 90an melahirkan S. Selearajen, Nasharuddin Sharif, Kamaruddin Md. Diah, Saminathen. Awal 2000an Azimi Abdullah, Awaluddin Hassan, Elangkoven, Adnan Jamil, Rodzali Yaakub dll adalah merupakan di antara beberapa nama yang mengharumi negeri Selangor sebagai pengadil di peringkat Kebangsaan dan juga Antarabangsa

Tetapi sekarang selangor ketandusan pengadil yang berwibawa. Di mana silapnya?

rizal hashim said...

ref_hemsem,

terima kasih atas teguran. Menarik. Saya fikir di Selangor barangkali tumpuan lebih diberikan kepada pasukan negeri kerana ia membawa glamour kepada pengendali-pengendalinya. Zaman sekarang tidak ramai yang gemar bekerja di balik tabir tanpa mengharapkan sekelumit penghargaan. Itu bezanya orang dulu dan orang kini.

Maka itu pembangunan pengadil dan kepegawaian tidak seimbang dengan usaha membangunkan sesebuah pasukan atau mengembangkan bakat seorang pemain.