Diego Maradona: A Profile

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Diego Maradona Highlights #1

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AL LADO DE MARADONA

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Before writing about Diego Maradona, one has to examine every aspect of his life regardless of whether they were good, bad, or ugly. It cannot be denied that he is one of the greatest football [soccer] players but there have been better especially when he admitted that in the "Hand of God" goal he used his hands [which is a violation of FIFA Rules] to score a goal. His behaviour towards Pele receiving a FIFA Award with FIFA offering two different awards [one for Pele and one for Maradona] is an example of an individual with an inflated ego.

Diego Maradona was born in a shanty town called Villa Florito in Buenos Aires Argentina in 1960. Early in his life, he was able to show great aptitude with the football [soccer] ball. He was spotted by a talent scout at the age of 11 and was signed with a club called Los Cebollitos which was a Junior Team of the Argentino Juniors. He played for other teams such as Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, Newell's Old Boys, and Boca Juniors before retiring in 1997. During his professional period, he scored 311 goals in 590 appearances. He also scored some controversy by charging for interviews, fighting with promoters, and experimenting with cocaine. It was this experimentation with cocaine that tarnished his image in football [soccer] at least in my opinion. [I could still remember living in Venezuela when I saw the 1978 World Cup of Argentina on Cable TV or hearing it in Shortwave Radio. Diego Maradona at the time did a commercial telling the youths of Latin America and the Latin Population in North America to stay away from drugs. Hearing Diego Maradona advising people to stay away from drugs and then doing cocaine made me remove him from my list of favourite football [soccer] players.

Diego Maradona also played for the Argentine National Team from 1977 to 1994 where he scored 34 goals in 91 appearances. He was also the manager of the Argentine Teams of Mandiyu de Corrientes and Racing Club of Argentina. He played in four World Cups but it was the 1986 World Cup that generated controversy. In one instance, Maradona used his hand to score a goal and told his fellow players: "Start Congratulating me or the referees will not allow it". He admitted later in a TV interview that the "Hand of God" helped with the goal although he later confessed that "The Hand of God" was a trick. In addition to his drug problem, he once suffered a near heart attack while dancing with the Chilean Talk Show Cecilia Bollocco. He has also been treated in Cuba for his drug problem and admitted to having a tattoo of Castro and Ernesto Guevara. The only good thing he did was criticize Bush by calling him "trash". [To be objective, I never liked politicians that much and Bush, Castro, and Guevara were not saints in my eyes but I want to stick with Maradona].

Diego Maradona was also the centre of many documentaries and was also one of the founders of the "Church of Maradona" which was his version of the Transcendental Meditation Movement [I admit it was a little comic]. Diego Maradona once even fired a rifle into the air against reporters for "invading his privacy".

Maradona was also the centre of many musicians successful hits. An Argentine Rock Group called Los Piojos [The Lice] dedicated two songs to him in their albums. Mano Negra [Black Hand] released a song called "Santa Maradona" in their album "Casa Babylon". The Alternative Band from Long Island called Brand New released a song with the title: "Me Vs. Maradona Vs. Elvis" on their 2003 Album Deja Entendu. Another group Manu Chao dedicated "La Vida Tombola" from their album "La Radiolina" to Maradona. Los Cafres added themselves to dedicating a song to Maradona called Capitan Pelusa [Captain Fuzz].

Maradona received many awards which should have been returned to FIFA such as the 1986 United Press International Athlete of the Year, the 1986 Olimpia de Oro, the 1986 FIFA World Cup Silver Boot, the 1986 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball for his hand goal and any awards received after 1986. The awards that Maradona received from his own merit have been the 1979 and 1980 South American Footballer of the Year, the 1979 75th FIFA Anniversary Cup, and the 1979 Olympia de Oro as well as other awards too numerous to mention before 1986.

All I wanted to do was write a biography that included all of the spheres of this most talked about personality who could have done great things for football [soccer], could have had a family, but threw everything away with his attitude, and behaviour. After all, our idols are only human. 

BREAKING NEWS FROM PRESS TV: Maradona has expressed an interest in coaching the Argentine Soccer Team for the 2008 Summer Olympics.