Diego Armando Maradona, head coach of the Argentinean national soccer team, the pride of 40 million people, just earned a degree in "Natural Incompetence 101."
In advance of an upcoming friendly against Jamaica, Maradona first called four players from Estudiantes, the best team in South America right now. A half hour later, the coaching staff realized that those same players had to play the next day after the game with Jamaica as well, so they were off the list.
Maradona prides himself in giving players their first opportunity to wear the hallowed blue-and-white jersey, but to not be aware of the status of your own country's players is just pathetic.
To make things worse, and even sadder, one of the four replacements Maradona called underwent surgery last Tuesday, but the coaching staff didn't know that until after the fact and he had to be scratched as well.
The replacement's replacement, forward Claudio Bieler, has absolutely no chance to go to the World Cup. Only 23 players can be part of a World Cup roster, and yet Maradona has tried more than 100 in less than a year.
This isn't a recreational league, not every single player in the country deserves to play for the national team, so please for the love of God stick with a group of 35 players and go with it.
We are four months away from the World Cup, and this isn't the time for tryouts anymore. Argentina is not going anywhere as long as it has a coach that doesn't pay attention to detail and does a half-assed job with his players.
0 comments:
Post a Comment