Live Football

Scott Murray: From Diego Maradona gaining revenge on the Butcher of Bilbao to Franny Lee KO’ing Norman Hunter, we look at the footballers and managers who lost it big time
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Original post by Scott Murray

From Robbie Fowler’s support for the Dockers to Diego Maradona taking on George Bush, here is a collection of orchestrated football shows of support
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Original post by WP-AutoBlog Import

Marcela Mora y Araujo: Argentina’s football writers were in upbeat mood during the post mortem of Diego Maradona’s first match in charge

Original post by Marcela Mora y Araujo

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/68296?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Mascherano+claims+Argentina+are+already+reaping+Maradona+effectch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Argentina+football+team%2CDiego+Maradona%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Ewan+Murrayc7=2008_11_21c8=1121576c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Argentinac13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FArgentina” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpJavier Mascherano believes Diego Maradona is already having a positive effect on Argentina. Maradona’s first game in charge was the comfortable 1-0 victory over Scotland at Hampden Park on Wednesday and the former World Cup winner has fostered a new sense of unity in the national side, says the Liverpool midfielder. /ppHaving been idolised as a player, Maradona had been considered by some as a figurehead rather than a hands-on influence for Argentina. Yet Mascherano, newly appointed as Maradona’s captain, has emphasised the 48-year-old’s qualities. “It has been an amazing experience,” he said of Maradona’s coaching debut. /pp”This is the first time that a [national] coach has pulled all of the players together. I am very happy with Maradona as a coach and a human. He includes each player in everything we do, it is the first time I have seen it like this. The key to the future now is that all players play for the national team as they do in their club sides.”/ppA troublesome World Cup qualifying campaign was part of the reasoning behind Maradona’s appointment last month. Argentina will seek to recover from their fourth position in the South American section, so Mascherano views victory in Glasgow as a significant step forward, albeit in a friendly match./pp”It was the most important thing to show to the people of Argentina that the players have a winning attitude,” he added. “Winning games at the moment is very important for our future. Now we have to improve but this is the start of a new era.”/ppMascherano laughed off the suggestion he would seek to take on another captain’s role, this time at Anfield. “That is impossible,” he said. “We have guys like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, born in Liverpool. I want to play for Liverpool, to try to do as well as possible and that will make me happy.”/ppIf Scotland and George Burley could take little in the way of encouragement from Wednesday’s encounter, the return of the captain Barry Ferguson after a year’s international absence was at least noteworthy. Ferguson, who has only recently returned to the Rangers team, too, following ankle surgery, played 59 minutes, a development which pleased Alan Hutton. “Barry is a massive influence both in the team and when around all the players,” said the Tottenham and former Rangers full-back. “It is great to have him back.”/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/argentina”Argentina/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/diego-maradona”Diego Maradona/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227226547152112100215136364″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227226547152112100215136364″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Ewan Murray

As his countrymen celebrate beating Scotland, the Argentina coach plays dumb at a press conference in Glasgow

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Who is this with Carlos Tevez?

Carlos Tevez was photographed last week at the Man Utd training ground ahead of this week’s friendly international game between Scotland and Argentina.  Who is it in the photo with Carlos Tevez?

Is it Diego Maradona or is it his mother?

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Original post by Terry Lane

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/33209?ns=guardianpageName=Sport%3A+Maradona+sets+the+rhythm+for+first+tango+in+Glasgowch=Sportc3=The+Guardianc4=Diego+Maradona%2CArgentina+football+team%2CScotland+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Andy+Hunterc7=2008_11_20c8=1120873c9=articlec10=GUc11=Sportc12=blogc13=c14=Sportblogh2=GU%2FSport%2Fblog%2FSportblog” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpIt is all very well creating a circus but what of the act? The hype and hysteria surrounding Diego Maradona’s arrival in Scotland was stripped away last night and the immense challenge of leading Argentina into another golden era laid bare. It was a tentative first step for a team with designs on a third World Cup in 2010, a giant leap for a manager who has a legion of admirers but is confronting a world full of doubters, too./ppMaradona had arrived at Hampden Park as only he could, standing beside a drummer at the front of the Argentina team coach, banging the beat on the windows as he conducted his players in song. It was how he conducted them as a team that mattered, of course, and the clenched-fist salute that greeted the final whistle signalled a personal battle won. Argentina will rest a little easier today knowing there may be substance in their icon’s surprise appointment after all./pp”I have dedicated myself 100% this week to lifting the morale of the players,” said Maradona. “We needed to get out of a bad run. We reached a low point with the defeat against Chile but it wasn’t a case of blaming other people but working out why. The national association didn’t sit back, they appointed a new coach and I have succeeded in removing the fear of defeat from the players. It has been a long time since we won and expressed ourselves on the pitch like that. Tonight we played for the blue and white and for the people of Argentina.”/ppBefore last night Maradona had presided over only three wins in a 23-game managerial career but Hampden has always been an inviting arena for England’s nemesis. “Thank you for 1986″ proclaimed one banner in the Tartan Army section and, while there was no handshake with Terry Butcher - “Who is Butcher?” he asked, mischievously - victory gave Maradona sufficient ammunition against his detractors - for now. This was never an occasion for the 48-year-old to offer a conclusive answer in the debate over whether great players make great managers./ppAs always in a legendary career, and sadly in this instance, drama remained a close companion. Argentina’s head coach had given serious consideration to walking away from his first game in international management, at the scene of his first international goal in 1979, due to complications with his daughter’s pregnancy. Sergio Agüero, Argentina’s brilliant young striker and the partner of Giannina, returned home late on Tuesday night and only the instruction of his 18-year-old daughter prevented Maradona accompanying the Atlético Madrid star to the Spanish capital./pp”Tonight I was thinking of my daughter Giannina and her baby,” he said, prior to making that journey to a Madrid hospital late last night. “The lads have been a great support at a very difficult time for me. They wore the shirt with great pride. My daughter was happy for me to be the head of the Argentina national team and that is why I am here.”/ppMaradona had promised “a feast of football” for the Scottish crowd by way of a thank-you for the undying affection he won in these parts by punching England out of the 1986 World Cup. He did not promise, however, to be a manager obsessed with recreating past attacking glories at the expense of his defence. Without a Maradona on the field, and with Argentina having won only one of their last eight games, he cannot afford to be./ppThe performance of the Argentina defence here highlighted an obvious flaw and improvement will be required if Maradona’s men are to withstand more serious threats en route to South Africa. Fortunately the head coach has enviable talent elsewhere. Javier Mascherano, the reluctant new captain in place of Javier Zanetti, underpinned an otherwise encouraging display./ppMaradona began with a traditional 4-4-2 in name but with Newcastle’s Jonás Gutiérrez and Maxi Rodríguez of Atlético Madrid given the freedom to support their forwards from the flanks, Argentina resembled a 4-2-4 during an opening when George Burley’s team rarely saw the ball./pp”For the first 25 minutes we were excellent but unfortunately after scoring our first goal we couldn’t capitalise on any more chances,” Maradona said. “But we were always in control of the ball and it was a deserved victory.”/ppThe first goal of his reign was true to the architect’s grand design, an immaculate one-touch move involving Zanetti, Carlos Tevez, Rodríguez, Tevez again, Gutiérrez and finally Rodríguez again bringing the visiting bench to its feet. Only Maradona stayed sitting. The man who as a spectator cheered his way through the 2006 World Cup in Germany sat with his arms folded before rising to nod his approval. The journey has begun./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/diego-maradona”Diego Maradona/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/argentina”Argentina/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227143638807112001163356847″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227143638807112001163356847″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Andy Hunter

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/34922?ns=guardianpageName=Sport%3A+Summer+solution+to+friendly+fire+between+club+and+countrych=Sportc3=The+Guardianc4=England+football+team%2CScotland+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Lawrence+Doneganc7=2008_11_20c8=1120845c9=articlec10=GUc11=Sportc12=blogc13=c14=Sportblogh2=GU%2FSport%2Fblog%2FSportblog” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpCalling for an end to international friendlies is like campaigning for a clean-shaven Santa Claus. Why bother? It will not happen any time soon and for pretty much the same reasons as Father Christmas is not about to undergo a makeover - it would upset the children, or at least the childish, and leave the commercial department heartbroken./ppLeaving aside the miserable exception of the Scottish Football Association struggling to break even on last night’s friendly against Diego Maradona’s Argentina (quite an achievement in the circumstances), these events are traditionally lucrative affairs for national associations, not least because they fulfil contractual obligations to corporate sponsors and luxury box-holders who have paid ludicrous sums on the promise of attending a set number of international fixtures./ppThere is also a political dimension, in which the powerbrokers of international football get to boss around the upstarts who run club football for a few days - a bizarre inversion of the modern game’s true power structure, one the leading clubs continue to tolerate for reasons that are best known to their team psychologists./ppThis uncharacteristic selflessness on the part of the Champions League elite has a certain novelty value but it does beg the question - for how much longer? On the evidence of a week in which many of England’s senior players apparently fell victim to what might delicately be described as a treatment-room version of the McClintock effect, with all their hamstring strains and achilles problems mysteriously synchronised, the answer seems to be “not much longer”./ppFabio Capello did not help the cause (his own or that of international football) with his insistence that Steven Gerrard be assessed by England’s doctors after being declared unfit by Liverpool - a gesture that proved even the most serious individuals can fall victim to childish impulses during international friendly week./ppYet if Capello fell short of his own high standards of maturity, he was a veritable Thales when measured against Terry Butcher, who used the platform afforded by his status as Scotland’s assistant manager to dredge up some ancient history involving Maradona and England. Apparently the Argentinian infringed the rules by punching the ball into the net during a quarter-final match at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. Precisely what any of this had to do with last night’s contest at Hampden Park remains a mystery, although its airing did solidify the view of those who believe that Butcher, though a decent player in his day, is cut from the same managerial cloth as Mr Magoo and is about as deserving of a spot in any international dug-out./ppIn response Maradona could have said any number of things but chose to say the most provocative thing of all, pointing out that England’s third goal during the 1966 World Cup final should never have been allowed. So began the biggest row in football since, well, the previous day, when Capello allegedly fell out with Rafa Beniacute;tez over his insistence on dragging Gerrard down to Hertfordshire for a medical./ppAll of this would be funny were it not so juvenile and, for the future of international football at least, dangerous. All publicity is good publicity, allegedly, but there is a point where publicity serves not to promote a sporting event but to accentuate its lack of credibility. This has never been more apparent than over the past few days, when the meaninglessness of last night’s matches, apparent to all, left a vacuum that was filled by the childish ranting of Butcher and Maradona and the posturing of Capello./ppThe names are different but the story is familiar; another dreary friendly international week, another episode in the downward spiral that can have only one destination. Clearly drastic action is required. Most drastic of all would be to stop international friendlies altogether. As said, that will not happen in the near future and it must be hoped it never will. But it is time to accept these games have a vastly diminished status in football and to place them accordingly in the calendar - during a designated period before the season starts./ppThis would allow the players to get fit for the season ahead; it would give the managers more than enough time to assess the talent at their disposal; it would allow the fans the opportunity to support their team in relaxed circumstances; and it would generate more than enough money to keep the commercial department happy. In baseball they call it spring training. In football they could call it an innovative solution to a tiresome problem./ph2Kings of the ring should cry quits and mean it/h2pAs the depressing talk of Lennox Lewis making a return to the ring persists and Evander Holyfield adds his name to the list of beaten-up and broke former champions intent on seriously damaging themselves by pursuing an impossible dream, the thought occurs that boxing has never been at a lower ebb. This is hardly an original thought, of course, but really, how much worse can it get? Alas, the answer came in a conversation with Freddie Roach, the Los Angeles-based trainer who is tasked with rebuilding the career of Amir Khan. “Any gossip, Freddie?” I asked him the other day. “You’ll never guess who called me yesterday,” he replied. “Prince Naseem. He wants to talk.”/ph2Finchem’s trouble in feeling the pinch/h2pIf there is a less self-aware figure in sport than Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour in America, he has yet to reveal himself./pp”I am delighted to say the demise of the PGA Tour has been overstated considerably,” said Finchem recently as he unveiled the tour’s 2009 schedule, which included an overall increase in prize money, from $214m (pound;141.2m) to $222m (pound;146.5m). Such cockiness was unbecoming in the current economic circumstances, especially from an organisation that relies so heavily on sponsorship from the American financial industry, which in case Finchem had not noticed is laying off people more ruthlessly than Tiger Woods beats the opposition./ppSuch cockiness also ran the risk of a karmic response and so it has proved when Buick - part of the near-bankrupt General Motors group - announced it would no longer be able to fulfil its obligations as the “official car of the PGA tour” and would not be providing courtesy cars at several events. This raises the prospect of players and officials having to rent cars at the airport, just like ordinary folks. Tim Finchem behind the wheel of a Hertz compact? The mere thought is enough to raise a smile in these straitened times./ph2Gerard piqued over his fat chance of a game /h2pSo many emotions are stirred by Gerard Piqueacute;’s revelations about the alleged failings he uncovered during his brief spell at Old Trafford before being shipped out to Barcelona: pity - that he felt it necessary to trash his former team-mates and their dietary habits; contempt - that he waited until he was long gone before speaking up; concern - that to his ears Sir Alex Ferguson’s perfectly clear English sounded like Chinese; bemusement - that with all those fat, unfit bastards around he could not get a game in the first team./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227139907655112000114957797″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Sportcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227139907655112000114957797″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Lawrence Donegan

The Argentina manager admires some ladies, visits Fantasy Island and joins up with the highway patrol

Original post by WP-AutoBlog Import

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/78247?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Little+gained+by+Scotland+as+Argentinians+show+they+are+a+class+apartch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Football%2CScotland+football+team%2CArgentina+football+team%2CDiego+Maradona%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Ewan+Murrayc7=2008_11_19c8=1120860c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Scotlandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FScotland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpIt is debatable whether or not this was money well spent by the Scottish FA. A reported figure of pound;800,000 brought Argentina and Diego Maradona; the visitors had rendered what can be a raucous venue at times about as noisy as a library before many fans had even taken their seats. This was worryingly straightforward for the South Americans. Carlos Tevez tormented and teased the Scots; Sir Alex Ferguson would have been concerned by a first-half lunge by Gary Caldwell on his forward’s left ankle but Tevez appeared to bear no lasting effects. Maradona refused to use Tevez sparingly, therefore avoiding a humanitarian gesture towards the nation who still celebrate his Hand of God./ppScotland, albeit depleted, remain a footballing world away from the likes of Argentina. There will be far tougher tests to come for Maradona. In blunt terms, this was a competitive non-event with little for the Scotland management team to glean in a positive sense./ppThe Argentina captain Javier Mascherano had already watched a 20-yard volley clawed away by the Scotland goalkeeper, Allan McGregor, by the time Maxi Rodriguez sauntered through the home rearguard and finished from close range. The build-up passing from Tevez and Jonaacute;s Gutieacute;rrez was typically exquisite, sufficiently so to pull Kirk Broadfoot fatally out of position and expose the Scotland central defence. /ppWithin 12 minutes the Tartan Army were ironically hailing even a brief sequence of passes between George Burley’s players. Scotland’s best hope, it seemed, was either floodlight failure and match abandonment or an unlikely loss of interest from the South Americans./ppSuch troubles should not detract from Argentina’s dominance, nonetheless. Ezequiel Lavezzi was next to try his luck following a superb Carlos Tevez through ball, but McGregor was up to the task. The visitors were similarly impressive at the back, Martiacute;n Demichelis brilliantly flicking a net-bound James McFadden attempt over the crossbar. The Bayern Munich centre-half proved not too adept four minutes before the break, his slip allowing McFadden another rare sight at goal. The goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo was required to, and duly did, spare Demichelis’s blushes./ppBurley had called on the services of his captain, Barry Ferguson, for the first time after a succession of injuries stalled the midfielder’s international career. Like his team-mates, it took Ferguson half an hour to catch his breath; this was hardly a welcoming environment for a player who has had only two full games this season. /ppTevez, the outstanding performer of the opening half, fired over from 16 yards. Some of the Scotland players, primarily Alan Hutton and Scott Brown, had already adopted an overtly combative approach in a vain attempt to prevent a rout. /ppIt was a minor surprise that Tevez re-appeared after the interval following Caldwell’s fierce challenge. Brown was hardly guilty of the same when tussling with Emiliano Papa, the Veacute;lez full-back whose 48th-minute play-acting was among the more ridiculous which will be spotted this season. McFadden was the next to clatter Tevez, a matter which would surely have had another Scot, the Manchester United manager, once again bemoaning the benefit of international friendly matches. /ppScotland enjoyed their most effective spell of the match as the second period opened, but without forcing Carrizo into anything resembling meaningful action. Niggling fouls, diving and needle had also become the order of the day before Tevez should have settled matters, driving through the Scotland defence and sending a shot high on the hour mark. That incident was the cue for Ferguson’s withdrawal; he had been tormented enough./ppThe ineffectual McFadden followed the captain down the tunnel shortly after, Burley at least attempting to breathe life into a stagnant contest by re-arranging his forward players. Unlike their opponents, though, Scotland never looked a viable threat when crossing the half-way line. /ppBurley now has four months to contemplate his next move. A World Cup qualifier in Amsterdam against the Dutch is hardly a comforting prospect this morning as the manager picks through the aftermath of this game. By March 28, Scotland’s fans may just have regained their appetite for watching a side in navy blue./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/argentina”Argentina/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/diego-maradona”Diego Maradona/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227136186835111923103134089″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227136186835111923103134089″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Ewan Murray