Maradona's questionable tactics come to light
CAPE TOWN, South Africa Earlier this week, on a practice field in Pretoria,
In March,
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His game tactics and personnel decisions were up for debate, but the 49yearold icon had injected fun into the Argentine camp, infused players with his boundless energy, and it seemed to be working. Argentina was the highest scoring team in this World Cup heading into Saturday's quarterfinal against Germany, and with Brazil bowing out a day earlier, many experts had picked Maradona's merry bunch to win it all.
But for the second day in a row, European organization and precision beat South American flair in a game billed as a mouthwatering showdown between the tournament's two highestscoring teams in the country's most scenic venue.
Maradona was quiet and disconsolate in the bowels of Green Point Stadium on Saturday night after a 40 thrashing at the hands of the Germans, the worst Argentine World Cup loss in 36 years. Thomas Mueller headed in the goahead goal in the third minute off a Bastian Schweinsteiger free kick, the quickest goal scored at this tournament, and quickest ever conceded by Argentina.
Germany would score twice more in a sixminute span a 68thminute strike by Miroslav Kose and 74thminute shot by Arne Friedrich and then Klose added the fourth in the 89th minute. Klose is tied in the Golden Boot race with four goals, and his 14 career World Cup goals ties Gerd Muller for second alltime, one shy of Ronaldo's record.
It was the second World Cup in a row in which the Germans denied the Argentines a spot in the semifinals. Germany, which has outscored opponents 132, now faces Spain, a 10 winner over Paraguay.
On this night, there would be no silly banter between Maradona and reporters, no outrageous comments.
Maradona, who gave his daughter a long hug on the sideline after tucking his rosary beads into the pocket of his gray suit, called Saturday's loss "the toughest moment of my life." That is saying something for a man who has battled a cocaine habit, alcoholism, weight gain,
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He talked about how tough it was to walk into the locker room and see Lionel Messi, the 2009 FIFA Player of the Year, in tears, heading home without scoring a single goal. "Anybody who says Messi has no feeling for the Argentine shirt is stupid."
Asked whether the loss compared with any other low points of his life, he said: "Well, the day I stopped playing football could have been similar, but this sadness is really strong, it's tough. It is tough because the wish to go beyond today, and to be among the four best teams in the world,
mallsoccer, we didn't achieve that. We all had this hope, this dream since we left Pretoria. We were just thinking about winning over Germany,
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"I lived through this in '82 as a player. But I was a boy and I didn't really realize the importance of things. Today, I will be 50 years on October 30, and this is the toughest moment in my lifehaving so many good people, so many good professionals, so many great playersthis is really like a kick in the face. I have no more energy for anything."
The players were equally distraught,
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It took them nearly two hours to emerge from the dressing room. They trudged through the interview area, heads down, most of them refusing to talk to reporters. Only three players spoke Carlos Tevez, Gabriel Heinze and captain Javier Mascherano.
"This is the toughest moment of my career," said Tevez, who displayed his usual tireless work rate, but was stuffed by Germany's defenders. "It was the dream of all of Argentina, and nobody's sadder than we are. We had a bad game, and we paid. I, personally, don't have any regrets. I leave here calm. I left everything I have on the field in every game."
Added Heinze: "Believe me, I am twice as sad as you (reporters) are. Nobody hurts more than we do. It's been years preparing for this, we all knew what we had to do. I will defend this team because I lived it, went through a lot, and in this 30 days we had a great group. (Saturday), we were not able to do it. In football sometimes these things happen. We were playing well, but everything went wrong. Once in my life I wanted to write the last headline, and now you guys will get to write it, and that hurts."
Meanwhile,
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"We observed the Argentina team fairly carefully," Lowe said. "We knew Messi would fall back into the midfield. He is of course a key player and a passgiver for the Argentina team, so we tried to keep him under control and tried to neutralize him by putting him under pressure or staying close to him."
He said they also took advantage of the fact that Argentina's attackers don't always support the defense, creating space, which an opponent can exploit if it acts quickly enough. And the young Germans did. Time and again.
"It's insane to beat Argentina 40," said Mueller, who has to miss the semifinal after being booked with a second yellow card. "It's hard to find the words for a result like that."
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