Diego Maradona - no-holds barred
conference.
Argentina coach Diego Maradona took a swipe at
fellow legends Pele and Michel Platini and also criticised the
World Cup matchball during another no-holds-barred press conference
in South Africa on Wednesday.
Speaking ahead of Thursday's Group B encounter between his side
and South Korea in Johannesburg, Maradona said Pele should "go back
to the museum" and claimed UEFA president Platini thinks he "is
better than all the rest".
Maradona also suggested both former superstars should go and try
out the much-maligned adidas Jabulani matchball for themselves to
see if it is good or bad.
Pele was quoted as claiming Maradona had only taken on his
current post because he needed work and the money prompting the
Argentinian's retort that he should "go back to the museum".
Maradona also hit back at Platini over reported negative
comments by the Frenchman about the 1986 World Cup winner's
coaching ability, saying: "Platini? I'm not surprised, I've always
had a very distant relationship with him, it's always just hello
and goodbye, nothing more than that.
"We all know how the French are, and Platini is French, and he
believes he is better than rest."
The Jabulani matchball also fell within Maradona's cross-hairs
following a question about the lack of goals in the World Cup so
far and whether he thought the opening matches had lacked
excitement.
"I'm having a wonderful time to tell the truth, to me a World
Cup is something that's quite amazing. I'm not worried by the fact
there aren't many goals, I'm sure there will be goals, I'm sure the
players will see to that," he said at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld
stadium.
"Of course in the first matches you are more careful, perhaps
more careful than you should be.
"And of course there's the ball.
"I don't want to go into the ball again because everyone is
talking about it, but it is important and it does play a part and I
would ask Pele and Platini to go out there and play with the ball
and take a closer look at it to see if it's a good one or bad one,
and to stop talking rubbish about me."
Looking ahead to Thursday's match against South Korea, Maradona
is set to make at least one change to his winning line-up with
veteran midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron being rested as a
precaution.
The 35-year-old Veron played 74 minutes of Argentina's 1-0
victory over Nigeria in their opening match, but he has been
struggling with a knock and Maradona does not want to risk the
former Manchester United and Chelsea player against South
Korea.
Maxi Rodriguez is the man in line to replace Veron for
Argentina's second Group B encounter, with Maradona saying the
Liverpool winger will do a "wonderful job".
"It was a difficult decision to leave Sebastian out because he
really wants to play and of course nobody wants to miss out on the
World Cup, but we have to deal with the problem of risk," said
Maradona.
"We don't want the injury to get worse, we don't want Veron's
World Cup to end. I really need him, I need Veron. I explained the
reason to him and he understood perfectly well that it was the best
for the team.
"If we put Veron in tomorrow and once again he has a problem
with his calf, like the second half against Nigeria, then we would
lose him for the whole tournament.
"We all know that if we lost Veron tomorrow the team is not
going to be the same. Although we may be losing a very important
player I think Maxi Rodriguez is going to do a wonderful job.
"We'll just let Veron rest and recover and we hope he can play
against Greece, and if not that then another match."
Maradona did not discount the possibility of making further
changes to his line-up either, revealing those players who did not
feature against Nigeria have been eager to impress in training.
When asked if Diego Milito, who played a starring role as Inter
Milan won an unprecedented treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and
Champions League titles in the season just gone, could replace
Gonzalo Higuain up front or if the two might play together,
Maradona said: "I wouldn't rule that out, I could put them both
in.
"I'm not ruling putting in (Martin) Palermo or Kun (Sergio
Aguero), they are training very well. In yesterday's practice game
between the first team and the second team there was hardly any
difference between the two. They played at a great level. I was
amazed and astonished at how great the guys are, the way they are
playing.
"They played a wonderful match and are in great shape, so don't
rule out anything. I have 23 players to pick from without a shadow
of a doubt."
