Is Maradona the underdog coach of 2010?

When Diego Maradona weaved his way through six England defenders to go and score what is arguable the greatest goal in Soccer World Cup history, he chiselled his name amongst the gods who have taken to the soccer field.

He is undoubtedly the finest player to have emerged from his country and maybe in world football but supporters of Pele and Johann Cruyff might think otherwise.

Since then, the Argentina conveyor belt has continued to churn out players with excellent skill and ability, each and every one of them compares to the Argentine legend. The comparison doesn’t end with the skill in the field, some even in built, short and stocky like Carlos Tevez, Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero. Winning the World Cup in 1986 and then ending as runners up four years later was a fantastic achievement by Argentina but then the following 20 years have been a disappointment, especially 2002 when they were regarded as one of the favourites but bombed out in the group stages.

Most of the current crop of Argentina players grew up idolising the man known as El Diego. With a world ranking of seventh, there is a real chance of them winning the cup especially with all the talent that the team has. However, they were expected to do very well four years ago, especially after they thrashed Serbia 6-0 in the group stages only to crash out on penalties in the quarterfinals to hosts Germany.

Getting to South Africa 2010 was a bit of a mission as qualification was only assured in the last game. Now that they will be in South Africa, Maradona will surely build his campaign around the form of Barcelona striker Lionel Messi, who has been in sparkling form all year. He has been unstoppable for Barcelona both in Spanish La Liga and Europe, scoring a record equaling 47 goals previously held by Ronaldo when he played for Barcelona back in the 96/97 season.

There is no doubt that Maradona will be urging his players to make his critics eat their words and summon the spirit that he used when he led the team to win at Mexico 86. That success came as they beat West Germany 3-2 with goals from Jose Luis Brown, Jorge Valdano, with Jorge Burruchaga scoring the winning goal in the 83rd minute after Rudi Voeller had just equalised for West Germany three minutes earlier.

Maradona goes into the tournament having had an illustrious career as a player first with Argentino Juniors and Boca Juniors — both clubs in his native Argentina — before he crossed the atlantic to go and play first for Barcelona then Napoli were he led them to two league titles and a Uefa cup. He later moved onto Servilla before moving back to Argentina with Newell’s Old Boys then ending his career with his beloved Boca Juniors but by then years of drug abuse had caught up with him.

He takes Argentina to the World Cup with an embarrassment of riches at his disposal, on paper his side should be able to entertain and score goals at free will. Other than the talents of the world best player Messi, he can also call on the free scoring Diego Milito the man who won the Champions League for Inter Milan, the trickery of Aguero or the never-say-die attitude of Tevez.

Captain Javier Mascherano adds bite and tenacity to the midfield, Juan Sebastian Veron bring experience and his skills of the deep lying playmaker who can carve any defence open at free will. Central defence so far looks like will be their archilles’ heel, as their top defender Bayern Munich’s Martín Demichelis didn’t have a good season.

Argentina should qualify from Group B with a degree of comfort considering the players they have. Nigeria are not the force they once were and Korea Republic are not the same team that reached the semifinals eight years ago under Guus Hiddink. Greece, despite winning the European Cup in 2004, are not really in the top tier of world football. However, you never know what to expect from a Maradona coached Argentina, having been harmmered 6-1 by lowly Bolivia in qualifying.

The big question is when Argentina take to the field on June 12 at Soccer City for their South African World Cup adventure. Will Maradona become only the third man in history to have won the Cup as a player and a manager?

So far the honour is held by Brazil’s Mario Zagallo who won it in 1958 and 1962 then repeated the feat as manager in 1970 and as assistant to the current Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira in 1994. The other is Franz “Der Kaiser” Beckenbaeur who won playing for West Germany in 1974 and repeated the feat as West Germany’s manager in 1990. Miracles do happen, that we know.