This article was published in Sanlian Life Weekly, No. 49, 2020, with the original title "Voila! This person is strictly forbidden to reprint it privately, and infringement must be investigated
He unreservedly showed the limits of human football talent on the green field, and at the same time, with his dramatic life, he integrated the innocence and complexity of human nature itself, shallow and noble, black and white, light and shadow. The strongest strengths do not obscure the weakest weaknesses; rather, they run through the man's entire 60-year experience in a calm and authentic way: that is what makes Diego Maradona so unique.
Text/Liu Yi
Argentina national team coach Maradona celebrates the team's second win over South Korea in the group stage of the World Cup in South Africa on June 17, 2010 (Courtesy of Visual China)
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No second superstar will use a Mexican second-tier league team with "City of Crime" as the home of his coaching career as he approaches his year of flower armor. Pele, one of the two "best players of the 20th century" by the International Olympic Committee, will not: before the age of 60, he had already served as Brazil's Minister of Sport and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, accepted the knighthood personally awarded by the Queen of the United Kingdom, and was preparing to continue to show his diplomatic talents as a guest at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Germany and as ambassador for the Rio de Janeiro Bid. Nicknamed "The Emperor", Franz Beckenbauer will not: at the age of 60, he will usher in the 18th World Cup in his home country as chairman of the organizing committee, and continue to write a personal column in Bild with 34 years of patience. Not even Gary Reinkel, the recognised humble gentleman of European football: as the BBC's highest-paid employee, he receives more than £1.75 million a year from the BBC for his programme commentary and has an honorary vice-president's office at Premier League powerhouse Leicester City. As for George Weah, the greatest star in the history of African sports, he was elected president of Liberia at the age of 51.
But Diego Maradona did just that, and no one was surprised – after seven years at the helm of two Emirates clubs and a year after naming himself chairman of a Belarusian team they had never met, it seemed so natural for Diego to make any bizarre new decisions. Argentina's players, who lived through the 2010 world cup trip to South Africa, know that Diego doesn't like to draw tactics and lacks the ability to make quick adjustments at key moments. His "coaching" is more like a reality show, in order to get closer to the green field that has changed his entire life, closer.
But at the very least, the youngsters of the Dorados de Sinaloa have one of the proudest memories of their careers. Even if all this lasted only 9 months, even outside of Honshu, there are still only a few fans who can fully recite their team's name.
"The Swordfish don't have superstars, and the academy is poor. The only household name here is 'Dwarf' Guzman," 25-year-old team captain Victor Torres told American documentary filmmaker Angus McQueen.
On October 6, 2018, Maradona, who is the head coach of the Sinaloa Swordfish, watched the team's pre-match training
Located on Mexico's western coast, Sinaloa was home to the Guzman Cartel, the largest drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime group in the Americas, in the early 2000s. The group's leader, Joaquín Guzman, nicknamed "The Short," once controlled the drug trade on the U.S.-Mexico border for more than a decade, treated the Mexican government as nothing, and was named "the world's most notorious wanted man" by Forbes magazine for four consecutive years. When Maradona made his first appearance at the Swordfish' home stadium, Bank of the North, on September 17, 2018, local fans welcomed him with a courtesy that normal people could not understand — they held aloft a portrait of Guzman and simply changed the face of the person in the painting to Maradona.
If it weren't for the fact that Swordfish owner José Antonio Núñez happened to be an avid fan of the Argentine national team and had a lot of connections in American football, and if it weren't for the fact that Sinaloa's warm, dry climate just happened to help Maradona treat his respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, such a weird coaching contract would not have been possible in any case. Founded in 2003, The Swordfish Club has only been active in Mexico's top league for three years, most of the time in the unpopular second division. None of its players have been selected for the national team, and the training facilities and course conditions have only just reached the passing line. A week after Maradona officially took office, the Swordfish suffered a defeat at home, and two consecutive years of promotion failure seemed inevitable.
But what happened next began to surprise everyone: Maradona was more engaged in the new job than 99 percent of bystanders estimated. He's still the same Diego who rarely draws tactics and misses pre-season practice on the grounds of falling out of love, but the swordfish's youngsters receive a care that goes far beyond the competitive level. Maradona will inquire carefully about each player's family background and financial situation, encouraging them to persevere in their dreams. He loves to learn about the past 30 years of Sinaloa fans being plagued by poppies, cocaine and criminal activity, and hopes that football will serve as a painkiller for their mental wounds. He will mercilessly berate strikers who have missed key balls in the game, but will also stand with players when they ask the boss for bonuses and breaks. Scolding the players, scolding the bosses, scolding the referees: in terms of cynicism, Diego is no different from his youth.
In addition to this, Victor Torres and his teammates also entered the world that belonged to the ordinary Maradona. Suffering from obesity and a variety of chronic diseases, the former king of the ball, Diego, can no longer show them the once unique football skills. He asked the team doctor for help far more often than his own players, and on several occasions in full home games he needed immediate oxygen because of excessive excitement. He will also express his regrets about his past life to new friends he meets in the local area: regret that he should not be addicted to drugs, regret that he has never been a good father. A few minutes later, he re-lit his cigar and talked with a flaunting tone about his latest love story—the prodigal son never really became a saint. As in the past half-century, Maradona always began to repent after dark and became a prodigal son before dawn. It's a figure that even God can't change: when Maradona was still playing for Napoli, he once criticized Pope John Paul II of the Vatican in person in a meeting, and the current Pope Francis is his friend. When neither the Pope nor Castro could persuade Diego to change his way of life, the advice of others would be in vain.
Miracles began to appear in the Swordfish team. During the spring season of the Mexican League, which began in July 2018, the team's status soared, and it was a surprise to reach the final of the promotion elimination battle held at the end of November. In the autumn season in the first half of 2019, they also repeatedly broke out of the scoring without being optimistic, and scored a two-legged knockout round that decided to upgrade the place. This small team, which once lived in the shadow of drugs and murder for a long time, has become a community full of cohesion and fraternity because of the arrival of one person. It's really happening.
But that's how it ends. The weaker Swordfish eventually lost both of their deciders and missed promotion to the Premier League, each time missing just one goal. A month after the second defeat, Maradona announced that he was leaving Mexico and that his health was no longer suitable for staying in Sinaloa. The staff of the Bank of the North stadium photographed Diego's back when he said goodbye: faltering, needing the help of bodyguards, already an overwhelmed old man. Maradona returned to his native Argentina, signed a two-year coaching contract with first-division team Gymnastics La Plata, and then became more and more frequently admitted, returned, admitted, returned. On November 3, 2020, he underwent his last intracranial hemorrhage surgery in La Plata and then returned to Tigre's home for rehabilitation. On the morning of 25 November, the family nurse found that Diego's breathing had stopped: he died of a heart attack caused by postoperative complications at the age of 60.
No other football match has ever shown the limits of a player's individual genius and rebellious spirit like the quarter-final between Argentina and England in the 1986 Fifacé World Cup. Similarly, few teams can replicate the ups and downs and fateful manipulations that Sinaloa Swordfish experienced in the short 9 months of 2018-2019. And Diego Maradona is the only character who can combine these two dramatic stories, as he has done in Barcelona, Naples and cuba. That's why he's so unique and so hard to replace.
Borocotó, the greatest sports journalist in South America of the 20th century and author of Boca Youth, once portrayed the national image of the Argentine in his mind— a Creole "Pibe" with sly eyes and thick hair that roamed the streets of Buenos Aires. Lost again and again in the vortex of blood, politics and economics, he finally found solace in art and competition. There is no doubt that Maradona is exactly the projection of that "bad boy" in the field of football, and it is difficult to replicate. A mourning public on the streets of Buenos Aires told the New York Times reporter's feelings, condensing all the feelings of argentines for him: "Diego has brought us so much joy. We all owe him. ”
On 26 September 2018, before the start of the 1/8 final of the Promotion Elimination Round in The Mexican League, Maradona, as the head coach of the visiting team, was warmly welcomed by the home team players in Queretaro
Genius mortal
Travel back in time to the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City on the afternoon of June 22, 1986. In the quarter-finals of the 13th FIFA World Cup, Argentina played england, and neither side scored in the first half. In the 6th minute of the second half, the attention of england's backline was drawn to Argentina's top scorer Maradona, who was advancing with the ball on the left. The latter gave a short pass to midfielder Baldano, but when Baldano tried to pick the ball up, England midfielder Steve Hodge, who was keeping an eye on him, alertly pushed it up. The ball flew down a flowing trajectory towards goal, and experienced legendary goalkeeper Peter Hilton was already on the run, ready to punch the dangerous ball out. Just then, Maradona rushed forward.
In his 2016 memoir, Touched by God: How We Won the '86 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona spent an entire chapter reminiscing about the dramatic match with England. He remembers everything the two sides said when he replayed the match with Reinkel a year later, remembered a series of black-footed fouls he had suffered in the second half, and even remembered observing the expressions of his father and father-in-law in the stands after scoring his first goal. But equally impressive, Diego spends at least 2/3 of the book complaining about those he sees as enemies — he mocks Argentine FA officials who "eat caviar and drink the most expensive champagne", and attacks then FIFA president Avelaange and his future successor, Blatter, as "slave owners" and "gangsters". France's number one star, Platini, is in his eyes the "worst man" and "duplicitous", while the meritorious coach who led Argentina to the championship is "the one who betrayed me (Maradona) after almost thirty years". Few winners place anger on the same level as pleasure as he has shown; and until exactly 30 years after that, they still fail to learn the kind of "generosity" or necessary superficiality that is necessary.
Not to mention, after rushing towards the Hilton, he made a move that violated all sportsmanship: he pushed the ball into the goal with his fists and hands.
In the world football world in the 1980s, football as a new industry was far from developing the rules and constraints and even institutional arrangements that matched it. In 1982, Maradona's first World Cup trip ended with a red card against Brazil: violent fouls, referee indifference and even on-field brawls were "normal" at the time. In 1983, a dangerous tackle by Bilbao centre-back Goyechea nearly ruined Diego's career at the peak, and his own response was to wrestle directly with the Bilbao players in the Spanish Copa del Rey final the following year – in front of 100,000 live fans and all-Spanish television viewers. The reaction from the top brass of his club Barcelona was not to show solidarity with his £6.9 million superstar player, but to immediately sell him to Serie A because "we can't expect to stand with him anymore".
It was an era without international competition weeks and sports medicine. A South American star who plays for Europe who wants to participate in world cup qualifiers needs to buy a ticket at his own expense to travel between two continents, taking care of two fronts of the tournament, and worry about being fined by his club or even the professional league. The giants have been willing to spend a lot of money on top players, but they have always refused to give them the necessary help and protection in addition to paying their salaries. Maradona accidentally contracted hepatitis while playing for Barcelona, and when Goyetchea's tackle left him seriously injured in the truce, the club sought in surgeons who were not even as reliable as Diego's own medical advisers. He felt that he was living in a hostile environment, full of dangers.
But Maradona was not afraid to take responsibility. His outstanding football talent and excellent performance on the field were used as weapons by him, and the opponents were not only competitors on the pitch, but also the football world itself. He knew that those skills were not as good as every personality of his national team and club teammates, and was willing to fight for the dignity and rights of those "little" people. He saved Bilardo, who was already suspected by the Argentine Football Association's top brass, demanded a higher participation allowance for members of the national team, and he bluntly suggested that Avillange set the World Cup tee time on a more suitable afternoon. He even extended his intentions to protect the entire Argentine nation —as a young Man of Lanus who grew up under the gaze of Juan Perón's photographs, Maradona never hid his contempt for the Argentine military junta that had provoked the Falklands War and had humiliated it. Argentina was still in the midst of social unrest caused by regime change before the 1986 World Cup, but Maradona believed that the people were innocent: beyond the bleak reality, they longed for football to bring them psychological joy and relief, especially when the opponent was the enemy of england on the battlefield. Maradona, on the other hand, happens to be a skill.
30 years later, Maradona still hasn't apologized for the controversial goal that slammed in with his fist. He told Reinker that what helped him was the "Hand of God": "On an occasion like that, the probability that the referee and the referee did not find a handball at the same time was very low. God reached out his hand to us, and He helped us. Britain's number one football writer, Brian Granville, described this as "the devil's hand": "Maradona looks so shameless and so innocent." ”
Lineker (left) and Maradona pose for a group photo before the opening of a commemorative match at Wembley Stadium on 8 August 1987
Four minutes later, the second goal arrived. Maradona received a pass from his teammate in midfield and jumped forward in a strange posture with his head held high, shrugging off the defence of four England players in a row, pushing the ball into the net before being brought down by the attacking Hilton and the pursuing player behind him. Uruguayan sports journalist Victor Hugo Morales, who was the guest commentator for Argentine television, burst out a series of golden sentences in an almost insane voice: "I am going to cry, Holy God, long live football!" Diego scored! Maradona! Maradona, beautiful running, the best show in the world! The Kite of the Universe (Maradona's nickname at the time), ah, from which planet did you descend, leaving behind many British people and turning Argentina into a fist of joy and tears? Thank you, God, for football, for Maradona, for all tears, for Argentina to lead England 2-0! ”
No second player has conquered the sport in less than 5 minutes in two very different ways: first the most infamous handball, followed by the perfect individual performance known as the "Ball of the Century". A great victory that was given meaning far beyond football itself made Argentina's subsequent victory feel a bit like a post-climactic aftermath. On the way to the Hercules Cup, Maradona's Argentina drew with Italy led by Bergomi and Cabrini, defeated and humiliated England in Reinker, and finally overwhelmed beckenbauer's Federal Republic of Germany team in the final with a hearty attack. Of Argentina's all 14 goals, Maradona scored or assisted 10. At the age of 26, he conquered Argentina, conquered Mexico, and conquered the whole world. No one cared about his deviance and blindness – thanks to his unparalleled football talent, Maradona could finally show his true character like a mortal. And he's actually been carrying weights.
During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Maradona, dressed in the blue and white jersey of the Argentine national team, cheered on the younger generation in the stands
Superstar Akako
Winners always want to be perfect at every level. They will gradually learn to self-package, make "identity-appropriate" statements, and carefully hide hobbies that may cause controversy. But Diego Maradona is not. In his memoirs, he ridiculed the young Platini for "exuding a strong smell of perfume and full of officialdom", and even sarcastically said that "maybe he kept some shady money in a bank, just so that you don't know". In Maradona's mouth, "drinking champagne, eating caviar, and having a drink" appears as a negative cultural symbol—those familiar with his post-middle-aged lifestyle certainly know that Diego no longer hates fine wine, caviar, or cigars more than Platini; as a believer in timely pleasure, he has never restrained his appetites since his youth. But Maradona opposed champagne and caviar as symbols of the lifestyle of high society, much less that becoming a superstar or celebrity meant being tied to certain symbols. He has praised more than once the best youngsters he considers himself: the vicious Stoichkov, the virulent Romario, who hates corruption, and Drogba, who unites Côte d'Ivoire with football... They all belong to the "people who don't wear ties".
The Trip to the World Cup in Mexico gave the world its first glimpse of the two sides of the conflict in Maradona, which was further amplified over the next four years. In The Catholic atmosphere of Naples, Diego is the only common idol in the secular world. Napoli fans pinned their modest hopes of winning the title on his genius – a budding team that was far from outstanding; they were fighting for relegation before Maradona arrived in the summer of 1984. In the Serie A power map, Juventus has Platini, Rossi and Zoff, Inter Milan has Mateus, Rummenigge, Klinsmann, the "German troika", AC Milan has won Potential Rookies such as Baresi, Gullit, Rijkaard, Van Basten, and Roma also has the Brazilian combination of Falcao and Zico. In the history of Italian football since 1929, these four giants, along with other northern teams, have won all the league titles. And Naples is not only far less prestigious, but there is only one Maradona.
Maradona (right) attends the FIFA Football of the Year Awards ceremony in London on 23 October 2017
But David's miracle of knocking down Goliath was staged in 1987. With Maradona as its absolute core, Napoli won the first league title in history for a southern team, and the campania carnival lasted for a whole week. Radical fans lit paper coffins with the words "Juventus" and "AC Milan" written on them and read aloud the obituary they had drafted for the Northern Powers. Like the Victory at the World Cup a year ago, it was a celebration of more significance than football: in the late 1980s, when the economic gap and social contradictions between the north and south of Italy were rapidly intensifying, football was projected with emotions that surpassed the sporting competition itself. In the following three years, Maradona led Napoli to another league title and two runners-up trophies, and won one victory each in the Coppa Italia final and the UEFA Cup final. He became napoli's all-time top scorer with 115 goals, and in 2011, Napoli announced that he would permanently retire from the No. 10 shirt he had worn as a tribute to Diego.
It was also in Naples that the second personality of the "bad boy" also began to swell. Maradona does not deny that he is a man of greatness; on some occasions his attachment to family, friends, and especially the opposite sex has reached an unusual level. In those days between South America and Barcelona before the 1986 World Cup, Diego had to pull a huge entourage of his mother, fiancée Claudia and his brother with him on each trip. In 1990, he told Sports Illustrated that he spent $15,000 a month on cross-border phone bills alone in order to keep in touch with his parents and siblings in Argentina. The Neapolitans' overly loving love for him and an almost religious cult made Maradona omnipotent: the "man without a tie", now accustomed to daily champagne, cigars and caviar, began to indulge in the poisonous sea. While Claudia was busy caring for her two young daughters, Diego began to make younger girlfriends more and more frequently, leaving at least one illegitimate child. Due to poor physical condition, he began to miss the team's training and even made up reasons to avoid "unimportant" games, so he was fined $70,000 by the club. Maradona's dealings with figures of the southern Italian underground community also became suspicious: those, in his words, were merely "ordinary local admirers."
Argentine fans wearing flags gather at Republic Square Buenos Aires to mourn Maradona on November 25, 2020 (Courtesy of IC PHOTO)
He believed that innate talent still stood with him, even though the erosion of cocaine and obesity had put them at risk. Maradona, who was increasingly bloated and injured with an ankle, once again captained the World Cup in Italy in the summer of 1990; this time, Argentina finished third in the group stage and barely reached the knockout stage. In the quarter-final against Yugoslavia, Argentina advanced through a penalty shootout, and Maradona's penalty was saved by the goalkeeper. His last highlight came in the semi-final on July 3: at the Stadio San Paolo in Napoli, where he was most familiar, Diego, as Argentina's last penalty taker, tricked goalkeeper Zenga into scoring the ball. The next seven years were like long reflections of the glory of the past stretched out in the sun. Maradona lost the World Cup final and was diagnosed with cocaine, thus living a life without the ball to play. After a brief signing for La Liga side Sevilla, Wanderer finally returned home and joined Argentine First Division side Newell Old Boys. Maradona at this time also had a luxury: he wanted to wash his shame with his performance at the 1994 World Cup, which would be held in the United States, not far from Mexico, where he became famous in the first world. But the dream was shattered after two games: after the group stage against Nigeria, Maradona was found to have taken the doping ephedrine during a drug test and was expelled directly from the tournament. Although Diego claimed until shortly before his death that it was a "misconception," no one would have the patience to listen to an addict's justification. His playing career is nearing its end.
In argentina in the 1990s, like his once proud son, it was mired in economic and social crises. In 2001, unable to repay its foreign debt, the entire once-Large South American giant almost slipped to the brink of national bankruptcy. In contrast, Maradona's intermittent career in the final two years of Boca Youth was almost smooth. In those years of Political and Economic Failure in Argentina, Maradona was no longer able to give his countrymen the same encouragement as he did in 1986; he was only in and out of hospitals, alcohol sanatoriums, and private drug rehabilitation centers throughout Cuba, the United Arab Emirates, and Mexico. Again and again, people read in the newspapers that he had been forced into an ambulance: the omnipotent Diego was also old.
But Maradona still considers him responsible for his countrymen, just as the Argentines still love Diego, who has been stripped of his former talents, even after the glitz has dissipated. In the first decade of the 21st century, when Latin American societies were extremely marginalized by the global economy, Maradona continued to advocate for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable as a public icon. He didn't even have the strength to rely on his own appeal to win argentina the Hercules Cup once again – in 2008, Maradona took over the Argentine national team in a crisis of internal struggle without any favor, bringing the still powerful but erratic team to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Argentina ended up in the quarter-finals, losing 4-0 to Germany, who defeated Maradona in 1990. In the final match, Maradona put on two watches, as if it was clear that he didn't have much time left.
In a televised interview in 2005, Maradona said he had chosen his epitaph: "Thanks to football." This sport has brought me the greatest joy and the greatest freedom, like touching the sky with my hands. Thanks to the ball. After he left, thousands of Argentines flocked to the streets of Buenos Aires, chanting "Diego belongs to the people." He does belong to the people of this land, just as this place belongs to him.
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