Maradona Has Right Pop At Pele And Platini
-
Maradona takes swipe at legends
Diego Maradona - no-holds barred conference.
Argentina coach Diego Maradona took a swipe at fellow legends Pele and Michel Platini and also criticised the World Cup matchball during another no-holds-barred press conference in South Africa on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of Thursday's Group B encounter between his side and South Korea in Johannesburg, Maradona said Pele should "go back to the museum" and claimed UEFA president Platini thinks he "is better than all the rest".
Maradona also suggested both former superstars should go and try out the much-maligned adidas Jabulani matchball for themselves to see if it is good or bad.
Pele was quoted as claiming Maradona had only taken on his current post because he needed work and the money prompting the Argentinian's retort that he should "go back to the museum".
Maradona also hit back at Platini over reported negative comments by the Frenchman about the 1986 World Cup winner's coaching ability, saying: "Platini? I'm not surprised, I've always had a very distant relationship with him, it's always just hello and goodbye, nothing more than that.
"We all know how the French are, and Platini is French, and he believes he is better than rest."
The Jabulani matchball also fell within Maradona's cross-hairs following a question about the lack of goals in the World Cup so far and whether he thought the opening matches had lacked excitement.
"I'm having a wonderful time to tell the truth, to me a World Cup is something that's quite amazing. I'm not worried by the fact there aren't many goals, I'm sure there will be goals, I'm sure the players will see to that," he said at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld stadium.
"Of course in the first matches you are more careful, perhaps more careful than you should be.
"And of course there's the ball.
"I don't want to go into the ball again because everyone is talking about it, but it is important and it does play a part and I would ask Pele and Platini to go out there and play with the ball and take a closer look at it to see if it's a good one or bad one, and to stop talking rubbish about me."
Looking ahead to Thursday's match against South Korea, Maradona is set to make at least one change to his winning line-up with veteran midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron being rested as a precaution.
The 35-year-old Veron played 74 minutes of Argentina's 1-0 victory over Nigeria in their opening match, but he has been struggling with a knock and Maradona does not want to risk the former Manchester United and Chelsea player against South Korea.
Maxi Rodriguez is the man in line to replace Veron for Argentina's second Group B encounter, with Maradona saying the Liverpool winger will do a "wonderful job".
"It was a difficult decision to leave Sebastian out because he really wants to play and of course nobody wants to miss out on the World Cup, but we have to deal with the problem of risk," said Maradona.
"We don't want the injury to get worse, we don't want Veron's World Cup to end. I really need him, I need Veron. I explained the reason to him and he understood perfectly well that it was the best for the team.
"If we put Veron in tomorrow and once again he has a problem with his calf, like the second half against Nigeria, then we would lose him for the whole tournament.
"We all know that if we lost Veron tomorrow the team is not going to be the same. Although we may be losing a very important player I think Maxi Rodriguez is going to do a wonderful job.
"We'll just let Veron rest and recover and we hope he can play against Greece, and if not that then another match."
Maradona did not discount the possibility of making further changes to his line-up either, revealing those players who did not feature against Nigeria have been eager to impress in training.
When asked if Diego Milito, who played a starring role as Inter Milan won an unprecedented treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League titles in the season just gone, could replace Gonzalo Higuain up front or if the two might play together, Maradona said: "I wouldn't rule that out, I could put them both in.
"I'm not ruling putting in (Martin) Palermo or Kun (Sergio Aguero), they are training very well. In yesterday's practice game between the first team and the second team there was hardly any difference between the two. They played at a great level. I was amazed and astonished at how great the guys are, the way they are playing.
"They played a wonderful match and are in great shape, so don't rule out anything. I have 23 players to pick from without a shadow of a doubt."
-
well.. he's right for once......
-
agree x 2!
-
argentina's attack seems the strongest in years. Their defence still not really tested yet. Jonas Gutierrez as right back? lol. He plays in the first division at newcastle and he wasn't really fantastic there. A lot of hard running and some skill but little else to offer.
-
argentina need to field a better striker.
haguain is not lethal enough.
-
he said sorry alr
-
Must take note, Only to Platini, But not to Pele...
