How Maradona got it all wrong against Germany | Thebigtip

As a player, Diego Maradona’s aura on the pitch is one that is yet to be replicated, such was his ability to produce a moment befitting of his standing as the greatest footballer ever. Unfortunately, ‘El Diego’ was unable to replicate his footballing genius on the sidelines, as Argentina slumped to a 4-0 thrashing against Germany which has seen the albicelestes bow out of South Africa in disgrace.

So were did it all go wrong for Maradona?

First and foremost, the 50 year old never stuck with a particular game plan. Maradona’s lack of experience as a top flight coach came back to haunt him against the organised Germans. In Argentina’s previous four matches, Maradona played a very offensive 4-3-3 formation instead of the 4-4-2 which indeed garnered him a 1-0 victory over Germany in Munich just months earlier. Maradona himself stated the 4-4-2 formation he used in that win would present itself again in South Africa. Instead, he opted to start three forwards which left an already vulnerable Argentina defence in tatters throughout the group stages, let alone against Germany in the quarter-finals.

Maradona’s player selections were also quite baffling to say the least. Both Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso were left out of the squad despite achieving huge success with Serie A giants Inter Milan. In their places, amateur and underperforming players such as Jonas Gutierrez, Nicolas Otamendi, Mario Bolatti and Ariel Garce were included on the plane to South Africa. The result - a defensively unstable and disorganised Argentina team which ended up having more holes than Swiss cheese, in particular against Germany. If both Cambiasso and Zanetti were in the starting 11, Argentina’s chances of a semi-final birth would have increased tenfold.

Even with the 23 players he did take to South Africa, Maradona still appeared clueless as to who would play where in the starting 11. Having recovered from injury in time for the quarter-final, Walter Samuel was left out of the squad despite being by far Argentina’s most reliable defender. In his place, Martin Demechilis assumed responsibility of marshalling the albicelestes back four with disastrous results one might add.

In the midfield, Maradona opted for an out of form Maxi Rodriguez to play alongside Lionel Messi, instead of the hugely talented youngster Javier Pastore. In the limited time they had on the pitch, both Pastore and Messi complemented each other beautifully, with the Barcelona man finally looking at his most dangerous. Maxi Rodriguez was past his prime long before this tournament had started and unfortunately, it took a 4-0 shellacking against Germany for Maradona to realise how ineffective Rodriguez had become.

Arguably Maradona’s biggest mistake was his decision to pick veteran home based players Juan Sebastian Veron and Martin Palermo - both of which are past their use by date. Veron managed to beat out the likes of young midfielders such as Real Madrid’s Fernando Gago and Valencia’s Ever Banega to seal his place in the squad, while Palermo was chosen ahead of Ligue 1 player of the year, Lisandro Lopez. As Germany have showcased so far, the speed and skill of youth is a wonderful attribute to possess in any tournament, let alone one as prestigious as the World Cup. As if the horrible campaigns suffered by the likes of Brazil, England, Italy, France and Australia were not enough of an indication, Maradona’s decision to bring an ageing list to the African continent is the prime reason why Argentina will have to wait another four years to end what is becoming a very dry World Cup drought.