June 5, 1994 – “A Boston Debut for Maradona” and Argentina
Post by frankdellapa@gmail.com
Diego Maradona and the Argentina national team arrived to set up World Cup headquarters, first at the Sheraton Hotel in Needham, then at Babson College.
Here is my story (+ link) from Jan. 6, 1994 editions of The Boston Globe:
LANUS, Argentina — Recoleta is where the wealthy go to dine and make deals. They walk among the cafes and the jacarandas, past the grand crypts of Cementeria Recoleta, where Eva Peron is buried, talking on cellular telephones. Their style is Anglo reserved, their look Italian, their language Spanish — they are the sophisticates of South America.
Before Gen. Juan Domingo Peron came to power in the 1950s, it was determined that the wealth of Argentina was concentrated in the hands of 200 families. Now, there has been some distribution of the wealth in a country that once aspired to rival the United States in industrial production and political influence.
But when they distributed the wealth, it did not reach very much of this huge country. Many Argentines still exist surrounded by poverty.
The drive takes 20 minutes from Buenos Aires to Lanus barrio of Villa Fiorito. On this warm South American autumn day, the sun beats down on the low houses, constructed of cement and corrugated tin. Barefoot youngsters test their balance on temporary wooden walkways over open sewers along the road. The barking guard dogs are not next to doorways, rather they are standing, ominously, on the flat roofs.
“Muy pelligroso aca’ ,” says Miguel, a taxista who knows the way to the childhood home of Diego Maradona. “It is very dangerous here, especially at night. But, remember, what you see now, it was 10 times worse when Maradona lived here in the ’70s.”
Two horse-driven carts go flying past, driven by shirtless 10-year-old boys who stand erect at the controls, alert for the stray newspapers and scrap iron they collect for sale. Twenty years ago, Maradona and his father rode in those carts.
Today, Maradona has enough money so that, he says, “my daughters will eat caviar every day for the rest of their lives.”
Even amid the most abject poverty in Argentina, there is futbol. Youngsters play the game in the wide open spaces of the parks of Palermo and on the grassy median strip on the wide Avenida 25 de Mayo in the center of Buenos Aires. The game is entwined in the culture and the economics of Argentina.
Hundreds of professional club teams constantly are searching for talent. Crime and sports, they say, are the only escape routes from the trap of financial degradation.
A couple of blocks from Maradona’s childhood home on Calle Bernal is the soccer field where he first played the game. In the late afternoon, the dusty field is filled with youngsters playing a game that is fast and furious, even desperate. There is no wasted time. Every ball is contested and few fouls are called, though the going is rough. Few wear shirts. One is barefoot, the rest wear beat-up shoes.
To play in this game, one must think and act quickly. And to excel, one must be able to control the ball as if it were attached to one’s feet.
“I would say that I am the next Maradona,” says Corneta Mongelo, 14, who is wearing the shirt of Boca Juniors, Maradona’s favorite team in Argentina. “But nobody can say that, because who can play like Maradona?”
Soon, a slim youngster standing about 5 feet 8 inches runs past, dribbling the ball between green colored canvas shoes.
“Hey, `Pibe’!” Mongelo shouts in admiration. “Maybe this one will be the one.”
A minute later, the youngster takes the battered ball down the left side, fakes a hard rightfooted kick as a defender goes sprawling, then calmly taps the ball a few feet closer to the goal, drawing out the goalkeeper. He holds the ball for a second while the goalkeeper commits, then quickly steps past and drills it through the netless goal.
When Maradona was barely a teen-ager, he was spotted doing similar things on this field. The talent scouts brought him to the big stadiums in Buenos Aires to perform juggling feats at halftime of the major matches. By the time he was 15, he was playing regularly against seasoned professionals for the club Argentinos Juniors. He was brought into the club, along with his father — the days of collecting scrap were over — and those who saw him remember a scrawny 5-foot-3-inch tyke wearing bluejean overalls and constantly munching on food.
He was audacious and resourceful, tough and clever enough to handle himself against ruthless and seasoned defenders. He was a showman who inspired passions. Once, he scored a goal directly from the kickoff by briefly juggling the ball, then punting it 55 yards, just under the crossbar and just over a leaping goalkeeper.
Maradona would choreograph an entire game, split defenses with passes and surprise foes and teammates with pinpoint free kicks and deceptive dribbles.
By the age of 16, Maradona had made his international debut. He became the successor to Pele as the symbol of the transcendent soccer player. Maradona was recognized as the greatest player in the world as he led Argentina to the World Cup championship in 1986 in Mexico.
By then, though, the flaws in Maradona’s personality could not be ignored. He had been ejected from a game in the 1982 World Cup, when, frustrated by the Brazilians’ fouling, he kicked an opponent in the groin.
And he had outright cheated by punching in a goal over goalkeeper Peter Shilton during Argentina’s 2-1 win over England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 tournament.
Then, Maradona transferred from Barcelona to Naples. He would lead Napoli to its first ever Italian championships in 1987 and ’90, its first European title — the 1990 UEFA Cup — and he would bring untold amounts of money into a city that had been sinking toward Third World status. These accomplishments especially stirred resentment from Northern Italians, who were accustomed to having teams from Milan and Torino dominate the championship. The haughty among them derisively considered the Neapolitans to be unsophisticated heathens, with more in common with North Africa than Italy.
But Maradona had discovered kindred spirits in Naples, and for a few years he had a passionately symbiotic relationship with the city. Even today, three years after his departure, the following graffiti is spray-painted on the walls of the Church of Sant’Antonio a Posillipo: “Dio non c’e/C’e Maradona” (“There is no God/There is Maradona”). Dozens of Neapolitans named their babies after him, and Maradona himself fathered a Neapolitan boy. The mother of the youngster attempted to conceal his identity when she enrolled him in a soccer camp, because being Maradona’s son would create unrealistic expectations; but an Italian sports daily discovered the youngster and presented a feature story on 7-year-old Diego Maradona Jr.
Maradona was a magician on the field. He seemed able to have a unique impact on every game he played.
On the field, Maradona and Napoli disrupted the power structure. Off the field, Maradona constantly challenged the establishment with his comments.
However, the relationship between Maradona and Italy soured during the 1990 World Cup. When Argentina prepared to play Italy in Naples, Maradona appealed to the Neapolitans to support Argentina. The backlash was devastating, especially after Argentina eliminated Italy on penalty kicks in the semifinals.
In November, he missed the team’s flight to Moscow for a Champions Cup match. He chartered a flight from Naples to Moscow the next day, though the team announced he would not play. Coach Albertino Bigon relented and sent Maradona in as a 63d-minute substitute, but Napoli was eliminated on penalty kicks by Spartak.
Traces of cocaine were discovered in his urine sample following a March 17 match against Bari. On April 6, he was suspended by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio. On April 26, he was arrested in Buenos Aires for possession of half a kilogram of cocaine.
Though he has revived his career, he is shadowed by his past. He signed with Seville in Spain only to depart before the end of the 1993 season. He left Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina after playing seven games in the first half of this season.
But Maradona was called out of retirement after Argentina’s 5-0 loss to Colombia Sept. 5, 1993, in River Plate Stadium. And, though limited in mobility, he helped his country defeat Australia in a playoff.
Then, in January, he fired an air-compression rifle at journalists who were besieging his home. A judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence, but Maradona departed Buenos Aires to avoid distractions and attempt to train for what will be his fourth World Cup finals.
Though these are some of the most well-known incidents in his career, Maradona has been involved in dozens of other controversies. But he is a complicated character, and no simple label would describe him accurately.
Certainly, Maradona felt trapped in Naples. It was said that he was worth so much money to the betting pools of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia, that he would never be allowed to leave for another team, especially before the end of his 5-year contract.
“When he went from Barcelona to Napoli, Maradona lost it all,” said Daniel Arcucci, an editor at the Argentine sports magazine El Grafico. “When he signed for five years with Napoli, that is when things started going bad. Five years for Maradona is an eternity; he doesn’t know what he might be doing in two hours.”
Now, though, Maradona is back for a final World Cup performance, arriving in Boston yesterday with his teammates. He talks of giving his heart to the Argentine people in an attempt win the championship. And they return the sentiment — during a game at Independiente Avellenada, Boca Juniors fans unfurled a blue flag measuring 180 by 90 feet with a red heart in the middle and Maradona’s name on it.
And Maradona continues to tweak the authorities, especially with his support of Fidel Castro.
But as he continues into the twilight of his athletic career, Maradona’s role could change. Unlike Pele before him, Maradona does not seem suited for a role as soccer’s spokesman.
“The difference between Maradona and Pele is that Pele is a diplomat,” Arcucci said. “He works for the establishment — Havelange, MasterCard. Maradona, though, is a rebel. Pele is always smiling. Maradona says whatever he feels; if he feels it, if he feels it is the truth, he says it and this has been good and bad for him.
“The fundamental problem for Maradona is what is he going to do when he is 40 or 50? He could be a journalist, a television personality, but nothing can compare to the passion of playing. For a diplomat it is easy. Pele smiles and says it is no problem.”
Maradona smiles, also. But he seems destined to be surrounded by problems.
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Ecuador 2:1 South Korea at Wakefield High School (Att.: 3,000)
The Ecuador national team would not qualify for its first World Cup until 2002. But the Ecuadorans were displaying evidence of their potential, as shown by a 1-0 win over Argentina in Guayaquil on May 25, 1994 and this victory over the Koreans in World Cup preparation matches. Emelec’s Ivo Ron scored in the 35th and 77th minutes, and future Los Angeles Galaxy defender Hong Myung-Bo countered with a 60th-minute penalty kick.
Goals: Ron 2; Hong Myung-Bo (PK).
June 5, 1924 – Chinese students’ soccer team of Greater Boston captain Arthur Sun elected MIT captain
Xi Jinping and the China Super League have revived soccer in the country, but there were apparently some talented Chinese players competing in the Boston area 100 years ago.
The earliest mentions of Chinese soccer in New England in the Boston Globe date to 1918, though the name of the team varied. Chinese players made a strong impact at Northeastern University. References to Chinese soccer in Boston appear to fade after the mid-1920s, a time of great political unrest in China.
Nov. 9, 1918 – MIT Chinese soccer 4:1 Harvard S.A.T.C.
This was the Chinese team’s fourth successive win, according to The Boston Globe. “The winning team displayed … intimate knowledge of the game … put on many trick plays.”
The Chinese team became an attraction at the Sullivan Square Grounds in Charlestown, one of the top “sandlot” fields in the area.
June 5, 1925 – Clan Stewart 2:1 S.S. Samaria (night game) at Sullivan Sq.
June 5, 1926 – Whittals Carpet (Worcester) 2:0 Fore River, State Charity Cup at Walpole Street Grounds, Boston
June 5, 1974 – George Ford named head coach, Bob Scalise assistant coach for Harvard University
June 5, 1997 – Revolution acquire defender Brian Dunseth
NEW ENGLAND SOCCER HISTORY