At 49, Diego Armando Maradona was in resurrection mode. And what a tremendous spectacle it was!
24 years after he put in a titanium-clad case for greatness, he was looking to script another one for the history books, this time from the sidelines. You could sense that he was - with his superhuman stature almost willing his team to the Golden Cup. His legendary status was on the verge of becoming mythic. Well, almost.
Then again, 6 years ago, he was almost down and out, battling a whole plethora of inner (and outer) demons. While his fans mourned, he was written off as a joke. Well, almost.
You don't get called great just for your skills. There have always been many skilled players in the beautiful game, some probably (Ha!) more gifted than him. But to reach a level of greatness that he has, you need to transcend what mere mortals do. Here was a fighter used to be being brutalised on the field by opponents who had no other way of stopping him. But he always got back on his feet and got around them, time and again and again. Everyone loves a fighter. Well maybe not everybody. In the country he humiliated 24 years ago, there might be a grumble of respect, but never love. They would much rather use their hands to wring his neck than salute him. Among the greats with whom he jostles for space in the pantheon of soccer legends, he might be acknowledged for his game, but don't try pushing it beyond that. With good reason, one might add.
Well let's face it- he is not a nice man. A God on the pitch and Devil off it. He is not a gentleman in the manner of a man like Beckenbauer, for example - who he almost followed into the history books. Even his formal attire for the Cup was more due to the intervention of his daughters than a wardrobe choice. And he couldn't wait to get it off as well. Promising to run naked down the streets of Buenos Aires - is not in any coaching behaviour manual. Managers are supposed to clap and beam, and at most throw a couple of punches in the air (and maybe throw shoes at star players accidentally). Be subtle. But El Diego doesn’t do subtle, or normal.
Then again, he was never anyone's idea of a coach. An inspiration maybe, a name to invoke of the eve of battle, but not a teacher or manager. Becoming a poster-child for cocaine addiction, driving over and shooting at reporters are not things desirable enough to be followed as an example - although there might be a case to be made for the latter. But, as many pointed out, his personal demons are behind him and if anyone deserved redemption, he surely did.
And a nation embraced their God and believed in him. But Argentina lost, and horribly at that, in a massacre, that must have been painful to watch from where he stood. The manner of their exit might put his strategy - to go top heavy with strikers while leaving a thin blue line at the back - into question. There are many waiting to pull him down, question and malign his legacy, and they just might do that. After such a defeat, he might not want to hang around or be allowed to either.
But for the gloating Brazilian soccer legend who will say I told you so, he might want to hold on to those words - for eating later. There are four years till the next cup, but to write off Maradona would be as mad as the man himself. And, incidentally - the World Cup of 2014 is in Brazil. Well...
24 years ago, the little man they call Dios ‘single-handedly’ and then single-handedly vanquished an arch enemy on the field of battle. From the ultimate sporting glory to the verge of self-destruction and back to ultimate glory. Well, almost. But maybe there's another avatar left in D10s after all. Something tells me we ain't seen nothing yet.
