Live Football

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

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/61306?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Glasgow+hails+the+hand+of+Godch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Diego+Maradona%2CScotland+football+team%2CFootball%2CScotland+%28News%29%2CUK+news%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Richard+Williamsc7=2008_11_19c8=1120042c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Diego+Maradonac13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FDiego+Maradona” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpAt this stage in the proceedings, the most likely place to find Diego Armando Maradona ought to be in the pages of his compatriot Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings, alongside the stiff-bristled, mud-wallowing Catoblepas, the 100-mile-long Earthquake fish, the weeping, wart-covered Squonk and the Peryton of the ancient world - half-deer, half-bird, but casting the shadow of a man./ppThe people of Glasgow have been staring at the former golden boy of world football this week as though he were a mythical beast capable of changing shape at will./ppAnd yet, as he wandered the corridors of his hotel Maradona, now 48, looked far more like the sturdy, well-proportioned figure who so hurtfully removed England from the 1986 World Cup than either the sliver of a man who fought his way back into the Argentina team for the 1994 World Cup, only to fail a drugs test when traces of diuretics were found in his urine, or the terrifyingly obese creature who, 10 years later, suffered a heart attack while watching a match in Buenos Aires and was rushed to hospital, a tearful crowd clutching candles outside as nurses hooked him up to a life support system./ppApart from Buenos Aires, his home city, and Naples, where he performed miracles in the 1980s while falling under the influence of the Camorra and cocaine, there is possibly no city on earth that would give him a warmer welcome than Glasgow, where his hand-ball goal in Mexico 22 years ago was fervently acclaimed and where he will make his debut as Argentina’s head coach in tonight’s friendly match against Scotland./ppAsked at last night’s press conference about the comments of Terry Butcher, the assistant manager of the Scotland squad, who was a member of the England team that day in 1986 and made it clear this week that he will refuse to shake the Hand of God at Hampden Park, Maradona prefaced his reply with a pantomime “Oooh!” worthy of Kenneth Williams./pp”I don’t understand why he’s taking this attitude,” he said. “Let him get on with his life and I’ll get on with mine.” Pressed further by a television reporter on that most notorious of goals, he responded with a reference to an equally controversial incident from 20 years earlier. “I can reply to the lady that when England won the World Cup, it was with a goal that everybody could see never crossed the line,” he said./ppAs he held his hands two feet apart to indicate the distance between the bounce of Geoff Hurst’s shot and the goal line at Wembley in 1966, the Scottish and Argentinian media contingents convulsed with laughter./ppMore than 400 journalists from around the world have descended on Glasgow this week to watch the legend lead a 21-strong squad including the 20-year-old goalscoring prodigy Sergio Aguuml;ero, whose girlfriend, Maradona’s younger daughter Giannina, is due to give birth to Diego’s first grandchild - a boy - in February. So while the next New Maradona may be his son-in-law, the one after that could be his grandson./ppEven though Maradona captained Argentina to victory in 1986, his appointment represents a considerable risk. His coaching record amounts to just 23 matches, first with Mandiyu of Corrientes, a small club, in 1994, and then with Racing Club of Buenos Aires, a very large one, the following year. Only three of those matches ended in victories. An idol in his homeland he may be, and the object of a cult that has reached its bizarre apogee in the founding of a Church of Maradona (whose Scottish representatives have been keeping a vigil outside the hotel), but a recent poll found almost three-quarters of the Argentinian public believe the appointment to be a mistake./ppHis demise, however, has been inaccurately foretold on several occasions. As he lay in hospital back in April 2004, virtually every sportswriter in the world spent time composing his obituary. But, detoxed in Cuba and with his stomach stapled in Colombia, he defied predictions and returned to life. And now he is back on the biggest stage, as the coach responsible for reviving Argentina’s faltering qualification campaign for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010./ppHe strode through the throng gathered at the airport to greet his return to Scotland - where, as an 18-year-old in 1979, he scored his first international goal - with that familiar barrel-chested strut and the imperious 1,000-yard stare of a man who has spent all his life under the gaze of others and still has horizons to conquer./ppThe smiles were wider throughout his first training session, which began 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled 6.30pm start. Yesterday’s press conference, too, started and finished on time. A man notorious for his indifference to punctuality appears intent on demonstrating his professionalism./ppWearing a blue team tracksuit, black gloves and a beanie hat, Maradona stood aside at Celtic Park as the squad went through a brief sequence of warm-up sprints and stretches while their fitness instructor clapped out a rhythm that sounded more tarantella than tango. Before long, however, a game of football was in progress. The new head coach limped noticeably as he walked among his players in the guise of referee, restricting himself to a blast on his whistle when a goal was scored./ppThe session ended after an hour with the players retreating to the changing rooms, leaving the unusual sight of Maradona, his assistants and a dozen ball boys recruited from Celtic’s juniors intently searching the turf for a gold St Christopher medallion which had detached itself from the neck-chain of one of the players. The 13-year-old who found it was embraced and hoisted into the air by the head coach and presented with his hat and gloves. Instinctive and impulsive, it was a gesture typical of the dark-eyed, curly-haired, divinely talented kid who left a Buenos Aires slum to capture hearts around the world./ppSomeone asked yesterday if he would find it difficult to restrain his famously turbulent emotions while occupying his new vantage point on the touchline? /pp”It depends on how the team are playing,” he said. “If they’re making me feeling secure, I’ll be fine. If things are going badly, I’m going to behave as I’ve always done.”/ppAll being well, Maradona will have become a grandfather by the time Argentina play their next World Cup qualifying matches in March. If he is still wearing the coach’s tracksuit when they meet Venezuela at home and climb to 12,000ft above sea level to face Bolivia in La Paz, then Julio Grondona, the 77-year-old president of the Argentinian football association - who likened this evening’s game to “a wedding night - you really hope that it will be wonderful but you never actually know how it’s going to turn out” - may be giving himself a cautious pat on the back./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/scotland”Scotland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/scotland”Scotland/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414962111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414962111900270935413″ 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 Richard Williams

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/8795?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Maradona+shrugs+off+Butcher+snub+and+vilifies+English+achievements+of+1966ch=Footballc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Diego+Maradona%2CArgentina+football+team%2CScotland+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Andy+Hunterc7=2008_11_18c8=1119921c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Diego+Maradonac13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FDiego+Maradona” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpDiego Maradona took a World Cup semi-final place from England in 1986 and today he took the urine. Argentina’s new head coach told a captive audience in Glasgow that it was hypocritical of the English to vilify him for the Hand of God when Sir Alf Ramsey’s side had bent the rules to win their own World Cup at Wembley two decades before. A warm reception is anticipated for the 48-year-old when he steps into international management against Scotland tomorrow night ./ppMaradona’s accusation was delivered with mirth rather than menace as he held his first besieged official press conference since being unveiled as the surprise successor to Alfio Basile earlier this month. His first game brings him into confrontation with Terry Butcher, the Scotland assistant manager who was part of the England team beaten by Maradona’s duplicity and brilliance in Mexico 22 years ago and who this week expressed a lingering wish to punch the former Argentina captain for that infamous first goal./pp”I don’t know why Butcher is taking this attitude,” said Maradona, rolling his eyes and feigning hurt when informed by a translator that George Burley’s number two will not be shaking his hand at Hampden Park. “I am fine with people who are fine with me and I don’t understand why Butcher takes this attitude. Let Butcher get on with his life and I will get on with mine. If he doesn’t shake my hand I will still be alive the next morning. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”/ppA female journalist then asked whether he would not feel resentment at being cheated out of a World Cup quarter-final. Maradona paused, then smiled, then drew a parallel between the Hand of God and Geoff Hurst’s second goal against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final. “I say to the young lady, England won a World Cup with a goal that never crossed the line. It was plain to everyone who saw it that it never went in, so I don’t think it’s fair that everyone should judge me when stuff like that went on.” Warming to his theme, Maradona held his hands a foot apart and added: “It was this much before the line. They just never used to have action replays in those days.” Cue raucous laughter from the Scottish and Argentinean contingent inside the Radisson Hotel./ppEngland-baiting aside, there was a seriousness to Maradona’s address befitting a man with his troubled history and a manager who, prior to taking on the role of leading one of international football’s superpowers, had overseen just 23 games from the sidelines as coach of Deportivo Mandiyu and Racing Club in the mid-1990s. The legendary player dismissed the suggestion he has plenty to prove as coach of an Argentina side that has won only one of its last eight matches and lost its last World Cup qualifying game to Chile./pp”I don’t feel under pressure at all,” said Maradona, who will work alongside his World Cup winning coach, Carlos Bilardo, in the national set-up. “If I hadn’t accepted the offer I would have been a coward and I didn’t want to shy away from the challenge. We have a long hard road ahead of us, it is not going to be easy, but the Argentinean national team needed someone to guide and help them and now we are on a mission together. Hopefully we will have a collective experience on the road to South Africa.”/ppInexperience is not the only charge levelled against Maradona since his appointment, with his temperament also on trial in the international spotlight. As a player he blamed a failed drugs test at the 1994 World Cup on a FIFA-led conspiracy to hound him from the game while his cheerleading displays at the 2006 World Cup in Germany are clearly ill-suited to the technical area./pp”I am the manager of Argentina now and I’m not going to get involved in anything like that,” he said of football’s politics. “As for the touchline, it depends on how the team are playing. If they are making me feel safe and sound then I’ll be fine. If they are making me nervy then maybe I will behave like you saw in Germany.”/ppMaradona scored his first international goal against Scotland at Hampden Park in 1979 and flirted with the possibility of one day managing in Britain. He also refuted the theory that great players do not make great coaches. “Cruyff showed in his time with Barcelona, with what he achieved there, that that can be the case,” he reasoned./ppIt was when asked to describe his own personal journey, one that has entailed cocaine addiction and a fight for his life in a Cuban clinic offered by Fidel Castro, that Maradona gave the shortest reply of all. “I get up every morning, simple as that,” he said. “I get up every morning.”/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=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227038198692111820034737539″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227038198692111820034737539″ 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.15.1/91595?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Maradona+targets+repeat+of+1986ch=Footballc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Diego+Maradona%2CArgentina+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Paul+Doylec7=2008_11_18c8=1119847c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Diego+Maradonac13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FDiego+Maradona” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpThe new Argentina coach a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/diego-maradona” title=”"Diego Maradona/a this afternoon declared his intention to bring the World Cup back to his homeland more than 20 years after his greatest triumph as a player. a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/argentina” title=”"Argentina/a have failed to reach even the semi-finals of the World Cup since Maradona, inspired them to glory in 1986 by producing arguably the greatest series of performances by an individual in any team sport. They currently lie third in the South American qualifying league for the 2010 edition, seven points behind leaders Paraguay, yet Maradona his team can be champions./pp”Finishing in the top four doesn’t interest me, I want to be first,” he said. “With the group of players we have that should be that target.”/ppMaradona was speaking ahead of his first match as his country manager, which comes tomorrow night against Scotland, the country where, coincidentally, he scored his first international goal back in 1979 and where he is still widely revered for the ingenuity he displayed throughout a dazzling playing career that, of course, included the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal against England. “I’m happy to be back in Scotland after so long away. I’m aware of how popular I seem to be with Scottish people and I will try to repay them by giving them a great spectacle tomorrow night. I hope it will be a feast of football.”/ppMaradona has enjoyed a rapturous welcome since arriving in Glasgow yesterday but one member of the Scotland set-up who will not be offering much hospitality is assistant manager Terry Butcher, who yesterday announced he has not forgiven the Argentinan for his infamous goal against England and will refuse to shake his hand tomorrow night./pp”I don’t know why he’s taken this attitude,” said Maradona. “But I’m not worried. Let Butcher get on with his life and I’ll get on with mine.”/ppMaradona’s predecessor, Alfio Basile, resigned from the post in October following a 1-0 defeat by Chile, and Maradona admitted he has plenty of work to do if he is to fulfil his ambition of emulating Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and Braziil’s Mario Zagallo by winning the World Cup both as captain and manager./pp”A lot of changes need to be made, not just in terms of tactics and players but also in terms of approach to an extent,” said Maradona. “What I really want is to have the players happy to wear the shirt of Argentina and to be part of the set-up./ppDespite his immense popularity, Maradona’s appointment has not met with universal approval in Argentina, where some doubters have questioned the wisdom of entrusting the reins to someone with no managerial experience. But maradona insists he feels no pressure. “I am very proud to be manager of the national side and I want to find a place in the players’ hearts. If I hadn’t accepted the offer I would have been a coward, I didn’t want to shy away from it. I know it’s going to be a long, hard road but hopefully the players and I are going to enjoy a great collective experience in South Africa.”/ppAsked how he envisages his team playing, Maradona suggested Barcelona prodigy Leo Messi may be given a role somewhat similar to the one in which Maradona himself used to excel. “He [Messi] needs to have freedom,” said Maradona. “We know he can convert chances but I want to see him all over the parkl, sometimes as far as three-quarters of the way back. He’s a great passer as well as a great finisher and we want to see that.”/ppThroughout the press conference, his first since his appointment, Maradona looked sombre but relaxed. His past drug and medical problems are well known and when asked how he was feeling generally, he replied simply: “I get up every morning.”/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/li/ul/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 Paul Doyle

Terry Butcher, part of the England side eliminated from the 1986 World Cup by the Hand of God, has not forgiven Diego Maradona

Original post by Ewan Murray

Terry Butcher, part of the England side eliminated from the 1986 World Cup by the Hand of God, has not forgiven Diego Maradona

Original post by Ewan Murray

From Hand of God to Battle of Berne via some Zizou wizardry and a Czech chip, half a dozen tourneys to savour

Original post by Rob Smyth