After leading his country to their worst defeat in six decades — a 6-1 World Cup qualifier pasting in Bolivia — Argentina coach Diego Maradona has his back to the wall.
Having only taken over last year, as a surprise successor to Alfio Basile, the 1986 World Cup winner started off with friendly wins in Scotland and France and then last week the two-time world champions hammered Venezuela 4-0 in his first competitive match in charge.
But Wednesday’s humiliation in La Paz — to his credit Maradona did not blame the high altitude — ramped up the temperature of the hot seat, even if qualification for next year’s finals in South Africa should still present a formality with the team still only two points behind second-place Brazil.
Four sides go through to the finals automatically and there seems little chance of Argentina missing out, but Maradona candidly admitted his men’s shortcomings.
“We just have to start again and hope that nothing like this ever happens again,” said Maradona, who praised Bolivia as the better side.
“The altitude was not an issue. We came up against a team that gave very little away and basically they were the better team,” he said. “Whoever played against that Bolivian team would have suffered the same fate as us. I suffered with them [the players]. Every Bolivian goal was a dagger in my heart.”
The thin air of the Bolivian capital had already done for group leaders Paraguay but the manner of the Argentines’ humbling 3,650m above sea level was more than enough to bring the Albiceleste down to Earth with a bump.
The likes of Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez cut disconsolate figures after the loss at the Hernando Siles stadium, which rocked with joyous home fans as a tide of Bolivian green ran the visitors ragged.
The scale of the beating will up the pressure on a coach who has yet to prove himself in the job despite Maradona’s lingering cult status from his playing days.
Anything less than a win against Colombia in the next qualifier on June 6 in Buenos Aires would be a further blow to his credibility. After that, the Argentines have to make another difficult trip to Quito to play Ecuador.
Playing at only 750m lower than La Paz the Ecuadoreans have held Brazil and Paraguay, the top two sides in the group, over the past week to prove they are no pushovers on their own patch.
Maradona has, however, bounced back from crisis before and received tacit backing from Messi on Thursday when the Barcelona starlet insisted: “It’s impossible to play in La Paz.”
Messi accepted Maradona had sought to play down the altitude issue but told reporters in Buenos Aires that “while I don’t want to contradict Diego, it is impossible to play in La Paz. That’s my opinion after playing there and some of my teammates think the same.”
Teammate Javier Zanetti joined Maradona in praising Bolivia’s performance but said the high altitude was a problem.
“Some of us had a terrible headache — though we don’t want to use that as an excuse,” the midfielder told reporters.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Australia yesterday won two of four races on the first day of the SailGP Sydney event on Sydney Harbour to finish the day atop the points table ahead of Britain and a French team who made an outstanding return after missing the first two events of the season. Australia also had a third and a second placing, finishing the day with 37 points, ahead of Britain with 32 points and France with 27. Britain won the second race of the day and Switzerland, who won the first race, were in fourth place overall. Australia’s prowess in the start box was again the