Maradona

" When I wear the national t-shirt, its sole contact with my skin makes it stand on an end". Do we need to add anything else to this definition made by Diego Maradona? Certainly not.

His first contact with these colors took place in Chascomus, on April 3rd, 1977. That day would be unforgettable. The Junior National Team defeated a local squad by 3-2. Only five days after this, Diego scored his first goal with this shirt in Cipoletti. Very soon he realized that sadness was even worse when Argentina depended on him: that same year, during the South American Championship held at Venezuela, they played three games, loosing them all. Rage was already becoming the best fuel that could give him power and strength, seeking for revenge.

But to prove these feelings he had to go through one of the worst shocks: not taking part in World Cup ‘78, that on top was going to take place in Argentina. He cried with no consolation, as if someone had died. He then promised his parents, his girlfriend and friends that he would win every single trophy in the world and would bring them home.

On the way to fulfill that promise, he even surprised the German player Franz Beckenbauer. On November 3rd, 1978, in Tucuman, after a friendly match where they had beaten the Cosmos, the great Kaiser asked for his t-shirt as a souvenir.

The South American Championship in Uruguay was ahead. That tournament was the qualifier for the Junior World Cup to be played in Tokio. They ended in second place, after a tie with no goals against Uruguay on January 8th, 1979 and defeating Brazil by 1-0 on January 31st, that same year.

After this, the time for the big revenge arrived.

The first bunch of players were chosen by Ernesto Duchini and Cesar Luis Menotti was the one in charge of giving shape to an unforgettable team, a unique one. "I have never had so much fun inside a field. Apart from my daughters, this is the biggest happiness I have ever had" was Diego’s own definition. In Argentina, people felt the same way, as they would wake up at four in the morning just for watching them play. The world was amazed by such magnificent skill. One heel pass here, a dribble over there. Starting line-up was known by heart, something typical with great teams along history: Sergio García; Carabelli, Juan Simón, Rossi, Hugo Alves; Barbas, Rinaldi, Maradona; Escudero, Ramón Díaz, Gabriel Calderón.

Their way to the finals was extremely easy for them. Their last obstacle happened to be the Soviet Union. They started loosing 1-0, but that was just a scare. 3-1, with a free-kick scored by Diego, was the final result. The Cup was at home, in Diego’s hands, who wanted to return to Buenos Aires to feel that moment, walk down the airplane’s stairs with the so longed trophy up high in the sky. It was for Tota, for don Diego, Claudia and everyone who loved him, for or all of us. He was beginning to fulfill his promise.

SUMMARY (National Team)

Diego Armando Maradona is capable of doing everything in order to defend Argentina’s colors. For example, he would cross the Atlantic Ocean four times in a fortnight just to play two friendly matches. Or argue with any manager in the world, who would pay the highest salary, just to wear the national t-shirt. Or play with an injured ankle that could hardly let him walk, and still be decisive for winning the game.

His feelings for Argentina have been always like this. Since February 1977, when during an evening practice with the junior team against the senior ones (players such as Passarella, Gallego, Luque, Bertoni), the Flaco Cesar Luis Menotti called him aside and told him secretly that he would be chosen for the concentration for the friendly match against Hungary.

His first match was on February 27th, 1977. And although Diego knew that he would play only if the game turned out to be an easy one, soon the claims for Maradóóó, Maradóóó! Came down from the bleachers. They wanted to see that little boy who had played no more than twelve games in First Division, but had the talent of an expert. They sensed it. He did, too.

That Maradóóó, Maradóóó was heard many times since then. In all of the 91 official matches he played for he most beloved team, making 34 goals, and also when he did not play. For the people, this claim turned into a anthem that could be heard when the national team is not playing with all the strength they expect… This is what keeps Maradona still present in the national team.

He shouted his first own goal in his ninth game. That happened on June 2nd, 1979 in Glasgow, playing against Scotland. Argentina won by 3-1, while the Scottish gave an ovation to that shorthaired little boy. He liked it so much that in the next match he patented his goal celebration. He jumped high in the air, with the legs wide open, the right knee higher and his right wrist being shaken towards the sky. That took place on June 25th, 1979 against the powerful team of Rest of the World. As always, there was some rage and anger in it, for one year before the national team coached by Cesar Luis Menotti, had won the World Cup… without Maradona. For Menotti’s point of view, there were other number 10 before Diego at that time, May 19th, 1978, time of decision, like Valencia, Villa, Alonso, Larrosa. Bitterness could not have been bigger for Maradona, nor so much fuel to feed his desire for revenge.

Since then, scoring goals turned out to be something common for him; against Bolivia, Ireland Republic, Poland, Soviet Union, Brazil. And amongst all those games, Austria, where he scored three goals for the first time, on May 21st, 1980 in Viena; an authentic symphony.

For a winner like Diego, World Cup Spain ’82 was, of course, a great frustration. He was already playing for the Barcelona, and everyone had the eyes on him, obviously waiting for the explosion of the number one. But that could not happen. There were different reasons for this to occur: that group was not eager for glory, they had tactical failures, individual lacks and received lots of hits, most of them towards Maradona. The only positive thing about his first game in a World Cup could be the first two goals he had scored against Hungary, on June 18th, 1982 for a final result of 4-1. At one fell swoop, the Italian player Claudio Gentile began to push him away. An arrogant play of the Brazilians ended up in his definite exclusion: a strong hit to Dirceu’s genitals, red card and goodbye to his first World Cup, on July 2nd, 1982.

Although it may seem strange, he returned to the National Team nearly three years later. He was already playing for Napoli. National Team’s manager Carlos Salvador Bilardo chose him and he accepted: he would be captain and leader. That was perhaps, Bilardo’s best decision throughout his career. Diego’s compromise with the team was so strong, that the day when he returned to the National Team, on May 9th 1985, against Paraguay (1-1), will be remembered forever, not only for this, but for the huge trip that Diego accepted to make. This was a symbol of an unlimited engagement, that would become a trade mark in all argentine national teams for a long time: crossing the Atlantic Ocean was not something stressing nor tiring if on the other side the national team was waiting for him.

Struggle, then was a completely different one, for no one, except for the players and coaches, liked that national team. The qualification for the World Cup in Mexico ’86 was agonic, and that was of no help. But Diego was still confident. And Bilardo trusted in Diego. And the World Cup finally arrived.

No one can deny that the influence that Diego Armando Maradona had over that world champion team has no comparison to other teams, and that very few times in history there had been such a number one. It should be enough to mention that goal, The Goal, the best goal of all times: June 22nd, 1986, Aztec Stadium, Mexico; all England on the way, the ball inside the goal, what else can be said? But there is more, there is another historic goal in that same match, with the Hand of God. This one, like stealing the wallet from the English, that one, to avenge the boys that fought in Malvinas. All of these were Maradona’s definitions.

But Diego was wrong when he thought that the scene of him with the World Cup on his hands, on June 29th, 1986, was enough to finish with all the arguments. To the contrary, it was not.

The following years were of harsh struggle. Two America’s Cups, 1987 in Argentina and 1989 in Brazil, which were easily forgotten. His challenge to defend what belonged to him immediately arrived, World Cup Italy ’90. To no other world cup had Diego arrived in such splendor. He had just conquered his second scudetto playing for Napoli and he was physically perfect. Until an incarnated nail in his right foot toe troubled his way, an inopportune flu was another obstacle, and Cameroon players’ kicks finally stopped him. That happened on June 8th, 1990, in the Giusseppe Meazza Stadium in Milan; Cameroon 1, Argentina 0; one of the most painful defeats in Maradona’s career.

Like many other times, the fact was getting angry and starting from zero again, or let him down and fall. They finally got started little by little. And thanks to the penalty shootouts, and goalkeeper Goycochea (Goyco), they managed to reach their aim. They arrived to the final match. Despite the fact they had some players suspended and some injured, including Diego, they were there. But before that, they had to eliminate Italy in the semifinals. Argentina won in the penalty shootout after a score of 1-1, in the San Paolo Satadium. For Diego, that was like his death sentence. It was logical then to see that, on July 8th, 1990, in the Olympic Stadium in Rome, during the final match of the World Cup, the Mexican referee Codesal ignored a penalty from Matthäus against Calderón, and gave one of Sensini against Völler. It was a second place. For Diego that was useless, as second places are never celebrated.

Diego cried inside the field when everything was over. He was very sad and cried, but the people in the stadium did not understand his sadness and booed him. That was one of Diego’s worst shocks in his life. "I would have never imagined that there could be so many people happy with my own sadness", he said at that time.

It was hard for him to return to the National Team after so much pain. More than two and a half years. On February 18th, 1993, during the celebrations for the Argentine’s Football Association centenary, he played against Brazil in the Monumental Stadium. He had already been named, fairly, the greatest argentine football player in history.

And, after that damned fifteen months’ suspension in 1991, when there were few people who believed in his return, there he was again, leading Coco Alfio Basile’s team towards World Cup ’94 qualification. Australia saw him celebrate his 33rd birthday and the chance for his fourth World Cup.

He was very good indeed. He was the best of all. The miracle had occurred. On June 21st, 1994, he celebrated and shouted his goal against Greece, and fought against Nigeria. He could not fight against the FIFA; they looked for something, and something they found. And he was sent off.

He was just sent off from a World Cup. They will never be able to take him out from history.

Maradona was already in Napoles when he noticed that in the last season his new club had saved from promotion for just a single point. Although he was surprised, he did not worry; as he was used to it. It was like returning to the beginning, when that team called Argentinos Juniors fought hard against the big ones.

What indeed caught his attention from that populous, southern region he had arrived to, was the discrimination it suffered from the rest of Italy. He felt that since the beginning. When he traveled north with his team to play his first game in Italian League, in the wealthy calcio, against Verona. That took place in September 16th, 1984; the adverse 3-1 score, along with the flags showed by the rival fans, caused the mixture of both pain and eagerness inside Maradona’s blood. "Lavatevi!", have a shower, could be read on them.

Italian football, the calcio, was already the League of Stars and the Napoli had the greatest; but, in order to shine brighter some other stars were needed. The first round of that first season, 1984/85 was the one of a team that could hardly save from promotion. Instead, the second one was completely different: the Napoli won more points than the team who was finally champion, the Verona of Italian Galderisi, German Briegel and Danish Elkjaer-Larsen.

Along Diego’s hand, promotion was now an insult even in southern Italy’s dialect.

Change of mentality was so evident that, in the second season, in 1985/86, and in association with Bruno Giordano, a forward he himself recommended, Maradona’s Napoli threatened and scared the powerful northern teams: it ended in the third position, and between the new number nine and Diego conquered 21 goals. Juventus, who that year resulted the winner of the Scudetto trophy, trembled…

The final explosion occurred in the third season, in 1986/87. Napoli won his first Scudetto after a long wait that lasted for 60 years, leaving the powerful Milan behind, and setting the carnival in Napoles free. Consecration took place in the San Paolo Stadium, on May 10th, 1987: a tie in the result was enough for it: 1-1. Since that same day, and having no fear of heresy, the people of Napoles enthroned a new Saint: along with San Gennaro patron saint of the city, now there was Diego. Or even better, Diecó.

Napoles, city of extremes, lived joy and frustration with a unique passion in Maradona’s fourth season, the one of 1987/88. That was probably the best start of Diego and of the team as a whole in its lifetime. But everything collapsed in the end, in such a way that no one could believe it. The thing was that the Napoli started like an unstoppable machine, breaking all sorts of records and statistics, things that Italians are very fond of, but when the final goal appeared at hand, the engine broke down. The Ma-Gi-Ca formula, composed by Maradona, Giordano and Careca, the Brazilian that had just joined the club, was not enough to avoid disaster: from the last seven matches, Napoli lost five and ended in a tie in two. The key game that was lost was the one against Milan, with a result of 3-2, on May 1st, and in the very own San Paolo. The reputation of an exceptional group was soon darkened. While many of the players were removed from the team, Maradona- upset by the suspicion- doubled his bet.

During his fifth season, in 1988/89, the Napoli demonstrated that its good performance was not casual. Although it lost the battle against the great Inter, Napoli went beyond Italian frontiers: with Maradona, they won the first UEFA Cup in its history, making an extraordinary campaign and defeating the German team Stuttgart. The game of his final return was played in Germany, on May 17th, 1989. A tie in three awarded Napoli. The championship.

At that point, Diego thought that his time in the club had reached to an end. Nevertheless, none of the team managers dared to open the door for him to fly away. That is why he faced his sixth season in Napoli during 1989/90 with great resentment. It is known that many times this resentment has been Maradona’s fuel. And this was not precisely the exception. Head to head with Milan, they made the decisive difference in the end. When everyone talked about that great Napoli of Maradona, the great Maradona of Napoli answered in his own way: winning the second scudetto in the history of the club. Consecration took place once again in San Paolo stadium, after defeating the Lazio by a score of 1-0, on April 29th, 1990.

Just after this happened, the World Cup `90 started in Italy, where Italians had been eliminated by Argentina. Due to this fact, Maradona should have never faced his seventh season in the club, during 1990/91. There was too much rage against him, and he could not finish it. He played his last game on March 24th, 1991 against Sampdoria, in Genova. A doping affair that is still suspicious made him flee from Italy. Maradona did not say good-bye to the people of Napoles as they both deserved.

Nevertheless, Diego’s history in Napoli is so great, that still continues nowadays. And will continue forever.

THE TRYOUT

Once the family convinced don Diego to let Pelusa attend the tryout, he still had to wait. Only a couple of days, but to him, it was a century away. The day arrived at last. A group of guys from Villa Fiorito took the bus 28 (the green, as they would refer to it) to Pompeya. From there, they got on the 44 till they found themselves at Argentino’s training center, called Las Malvinas. Amongst them all, there were three boys, Diego, Goyo and Montañita, who would never stay apart. But when they got there, they were all turned off: it was raining so much that they couldn’t even step on the field…the tryout was going to be put off! Was it?

It is worth to hold on for a second. It hadn’t been easy for Diego to get there: don Diego’s green light wasn’t going to last for ever, it was hard to get the money for the bus’ tickets, the trainers didn’t have so much time to travel with a bunch of boys from Fiorito. Had Diego thought all that?

The trainer’s voice (Francis Cornejo), the discoverer of talents, the guide of the growing group, got him out of his sadness: "Let’s go! Everyone to don Yayo’s van.. We’ll go to another field!". The van was a Rastrojero, somewhat dilapidated and don Yayo was Emilio Trotta, Cornejo’s assistant. The other field turned out to be Saavedra’s Park. Two teams were made up there. Diego and Goyo went in, together, in the second round. If they had always been rivals, they couldn’t tell. What was notorious from the way they played was the friendship they both held. They showed off in different fantastic moves and plenty of goals. So many, that not even Diego remembers how many they had scored. And although it is unbelievable after having performed in such a way, don Francis’ first reaction was not the best one. The man thought they were pulling his leg, that kid, short and skinny with curly hair couldn’t possibly be nine years old. He was convinced he was…a dwarf! Cornejo went near Diego and asked him if he was sure he had been born in 1960. Diego, shrinking himself even more, somehow scared, nodded. The man asked him for the ID and he wanted to die… he didn’t have it on him!

Something, maybe the intuition, made don Francis realize that it wasn’t worth worrying. That the only important thing was to make sure that boy kept on playing. He never imagined that, in a short time, he had to be the one who lied about his phenomenon’s age. And not precisely in the same way.

THE MONSTER

At last, Francis had Diego’s ID. But he had gained something more important, don Deigo’s and doña Tota’s trust regarding their son. So the man took Maradona everywhere, even to the matches with older guys. It seems incredible, but that’s how the story goes. In the same way that the Brazilians used older football players in the junior tournaments, Argentinos called a younger one to play against older teams.

Already, at Sacachispas’ field, against Racing, the match of the 14 year old boys was hard, nil-nil and nothing happened. Francis made signs to the dark boy who was part of the reserve and sent him into the field. He was eleven and scored two super-goals. The rival coach, who knew Francis pretty well, got close to him astonished: "How is it that you keep such a phenomenon in reserve?" he said. Francis just smiled, tapped him on the back, and left.

Another time, in a match against Boca, he did the same thing. But as everyone already knew the name of Maradona, he changed it. Instead, he wrote on the board Montanya. The thing was that the situation of the match was even worse: they were loosing three-nil. So Cornejo sent…Montanya into the field. He scored a goal immediately, and another, they managed to draw the match. And during the last hurray his mates screwed it up crying out: "Great, Diego!". The rival coach went crazy, and run towards Cornejo shouting at him: "You made Diego play, you sun of a…!"

Maradona was already a known surname, even tough the first time it appeared in a newspaper, an error slipped up. In the edition of the 28th September, 1971, Clarín referred to a guy with demeanor. A sort of crack whose name was…Caradona. It wasn’t that the way he appeared as in the list of the matches Los Cebollitas took part in. They had quite a stable team: Ojeda, Trotta, Chaile, Chammah, Montaña: Lucero, Dalla Buona, Maradona: Duré, Carrizo and Delgado. They remained unbeaten for 136 matches, all recorded in a notebook that Claudia jealously keeps. In the last period they went on a tour to many places. They even went to Uruguay and Perú, finishing at Navarro, in the province of Buenos Aires. The story was already written and also forecasted what was coming next, sooner or later.

SCORING AGAINST THE BRITISH

Maradona’s history is cyclic. Hence, fantastic. It is possible to come across clues that explain everything he went through. At least, a good part of it. In his unforgettable Cebollita Phase, Diego scored two goals that could be well considered the pattern of the ones he would score in a unique match against the British, some time later, during Mexico’s World Cup in 1986.

Although it might seem untrue, he had already done something similar to that feat that is considered the best goal in the history of World Cups. It was due in 1973, in a final match against River. Diego capered seven players and scored.

It is curious that he also scored one alike The Hand of God. It was in Saavedra’s Park. The rivals saw him, the referee didn’t and the situation turned into chaos. It was finally considered a goal.

LET HIM STAY

Los Cebollitas became famous as their victories increased and there magic glowed. So did Maradona. He was even invited by Pipo Mancera, the TV host of the most watched show of those times, early 60’s. Diego climbed to the junior league of Argentinos Juniors and his debut in the ninth division had as a prize, the first Title, the first Olympic Lap.

His name was not only attractive to the press, but also to larger clubs. Through its president, William Kent, River made his interest public. The director faced don Diego and asked him to decide on a price for his son’s pass, because he wanted to buy his talent. The answer of the beloved Chitoro is part of the big history of Maradona: "No, no, thanks, Dieguito is very happy playing at Argentinos".

Dieguito was happy, for instance playing with the rounded Pintier balls, during the recess between the two halves of the matches of First Division. It had been Cornejo’s idea: he had given a ball to Diego and he started playing with it, and people paid attention to nothing but him. When the teams came back to start off the second half of the match the ovation faded out: "Let him stay! / Let him stay!". It was the first ovation Maradona had in his life, before the classic " Maradóóó, Maradóóó!"

By those times, Jorge Cyterszpiler, was close to the group. Ruso’s brother, that’s how they used to call him, had been a great promise to Argentinos Juniors. But an illness made both, the illusion and his life, come to an end. Cyterszpiler didn’t go back to a club, until he was told of Maradona. He then came back. And never split from that group, becoming the older brother of everyone there.

Many times Diego ate and slept over his house. He shared with him dreams that each day were closer to become true. Like the time that he almost made his debut in the first division. It was on the 14th August, 1975. A football players’ strike left the Fist Division without professionals. Argentinos had to play against River at Vélez’s Stadium. Francis, who didn’t like to be pushed against the big ones, asked the coach, Francisco Campana, to include Diego in the team, as they were all young players… That couldn’t be possible. He only wished it had been. But he didn’t have to wait much though, just a year.