Diego Maradona had quite a few surprises in his initial team selection for Argentina coming to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, surprises that are creating a buzz back home. Now Maradona is staying firm behind his choices, and in a recent interview at the Fox Sport TV station says that his current squad is even better than the Argentina team that won the World Cup trophy in 1986.
“I have more trust in this Argentina compared to the ’86 team,” says Maradona. “All my players are currently at the height of their entire career. I want Lionel Messi to be free, to create plays, and to find open space, and at the same time Juan Sebastián Verón needs to become our very own Xavi. I basically watched all games with Argentinian players: Early in the morning I would start with the Premier League, later on Italian and Spanish Championships. I know very well what people like and what they want to see, but my only interest is to win and I’m sure everyone agrees with me there.”
Diego Maradona is leaving behind some big names for Argentina like Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Diego Milito of Inter, as well as Lisandro López of Lyon and Fernando Gago of Real. At the same time Maradona is taking to the 2010 World Cup a surprise 7 players from the domestic league that are not very popular (especially outside of Argentina). Maradona avoided talking about specific players and names during this interview, but wanted to send a message of confidence to all Argentina 30 days before the World Cup tournament kicks off.
“I didn’t feel I had to warn the players that were not selected beforehand, I am the coach and I don’t need to explain myself to anyone. The decision to leave behind Zanetti and Cambiasso was taken by me long time ago and there is nothing wrong with that, it’s just the way it is. I only feel sorry for Gago, he was one of my men but played very little this year.”
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