FOOTBALL MAGICIAN ,:DIEGO MARADONA DIES

 

FOOTBALL MAGICIAN ,:DIEGO MARADONA DIES

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU,NOBEL LAUREATE

……………………………………….THE ARGENTINE PRESIDENCY DECLARES THREE DAYS OF MOURNING

…………………………………….PELE:I HOPE  WE PLAY SOCCER TOGETHER IN THE SKIES

……………………………………..LIONEL MESSI:DIEGO IS ETERNAL

……………………………………MICHEAL PLATINI : A BIT OF OUR PAST HAS GONE FOREVER

……………………………………..NAPOLI:CIAO,NAPOLI BIDS FAREWELL TO SOCCER IDOL

……………………………………….CRISTIANO RONALDO CALLS HIM AN ETERNAL GENIUS

………………………………………..MARADONA ECLIPSES PERONISTS AS GREATEST ARGENTINE IN HISTORY

……………………………………….MARADONA TO BE HONOURED WITH MINUTE SILENCE AT THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE,AND UEFA EUROPA SOCCER GAMES

………………………………………….DIEGO MARADONA HAD A BRAIN SURGERY JUST TWO WEEKS AGO.

…………………………………………….DIES OF SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST  AFTER HEALTH COMPLICATIONS  AROSE TWO WEEKS  AFTER SURGERY

……………………………………………..MARADONA DIES AT 60 YEARS OF A FRUITFUL SOJOURN ON PLANET EARTH

…………………………………………………MEDICS RUSHED TO HIS HOME ON THE NORTHERN SIDE OF BUENOS AIRES,TIGRE TO BE PRECISE TO TRY TO RESUSCITATE HIM BUT COULD NOT

…………………………………………………DIEGO ARMANDO FRANCO MARADONA WAS DEMIGOD IN FOOTBALL,SIMPLY PUT GOD WALKING ON ALL FOURS AMONG MEN..

It’s strange the way God Almighty the creator of the heaven and the earth does his things ,may be this is why he is God anyway,The All Knowing,the one who knew us from our mother’s womb even before we  were born..

Who will ever have thought that the most influential and greatest Argentine in all of history or of modern times will not be Juan Peron or any of his two beautiful wives :Madam Isabel Peron and Evita but a soccer star from wait for it,the slums of Buenos Aires.

Gosh what a story this was and like a fairy tale shot only in Hollywood the kind of star struck life Diego Armando Maradona lived with the endless drama ,intrigues ,power play ,controversy and politics that was his entire life ,not even his enemies or opponents could deny his innate foot balling talents as such was his naked gifts as doing so will have amounted to nothing but stupidity .

It’s difficult to believe but that it who Diego Maradona was ,he transcended football and is seen as a socio-cultural symbol in Argentina and for sure he is the greatest human being to have ever kicked the round leather alongside his friend ,The Brazilian Pele..

This reporter at the News office Desk of the E.N.M.Paedia Express Multimedia Group of Lagos,Nigeria ,first heard of him at the 1982 World Cup in Spain when he got sent off in an ill tempered match with Brazil for a foul charge on Batista with the tie ending 3:1 in favour of Brazil.

At the time ,several analysts who saw him play for his nation so well as a youth international couple of years before  said that perhaps it was still too early for him to have played for his country .

Despite the inherent talent ,when he left his native Argentina to start life in Barcelona  the sporting press did not really give it the kind of hype expected of a world record transfer at the time even if he will soon break it for the second time on his way to Naples  and this may be due to a myriad of reasons  at the time and they could be the Paolo Rossi /Azurri factor,Brazil’s dominance at the time in Latin American football  amongst other reasons…

Then came the 1986 World Cup ,it was  the year :Diego Armando Maradona got transformed from a  human being to an immortal ,at the World Cup held in Mexico he feigned,dribbled ,jumped,headed,kicked and on several  occasions took matters into his own hands when he single handedly ripped an entire defence and midfield formation of the Belgian and the England’s National Teams apart with at least 5to 7 people been beaten before slotting the ball into empty and yawning nets.

In the match against England and till date and perhaps for all of humanity the most controversial moment in soccer,Diego Aramndo Maradona while contesting aerially with Terry Butcher and in a move that showed a spur of the moment action  or what could be termed an act of Giod and without really meaning to bundle the ball into the net with his hand did so albeit unconsciously.

To add to the drama the referee did not see things clearly from where he was standing .

At the time,Football was not so developed and it would appear that the centre referee could not interpret the error on the spot and so he allowed the goal to  stand .

For the average Englishman this was an insult too much for them to bear and to take while on the field of international relations it was it was sweet victory for the Argies as it was considered a balance of power as England had defeated Argentina  in a bitterly fought war called the Falklands couple of months earlier…

So in earnest ,what the political class could not do for the people of Argentina ,a sporting star called Diego Maradona used his soccer artistry to win a major public relations bragging rights for his football  mad nation and continent.

In 1990.,Maradona had become a marked man and was the cynosure of all eyes and yet again like  he so much has done previously and severally carried his entire nation Argentina on his head ,shoulders once again as he piloted them to the very finals single handedly until they got stopped by a penalty kick in the finals against Germany…

Whether at clubs like Boca Juniors,Argentino Juniors,Newell Old Boys,Barcelona,Napoli,Sevilla and the National Team ,Diego Armando Maradona left his footprints effectively on the sands of time.

He was a genius ,the type seen may be once in a life time ,more like a meteor or comet or may be shooting star in the galaxies…

Out of about 7 to 8 Nigerian soccer fans this reporter shared the news with ,only one claimed that he was indifferent about football while another stated that perhaps Maradona’s drug past was what affected him.

However, one thing was clear they were all very sad to hear of his passage  at least two weeks after he was released from the hospital while recuperating at t his home in Buenos Aires,Argentina.

Mayra Pertossi ,A journalist from Buenos Aires ,Argentina in an interview on Turkish Television said that the deceased was recuperating at his home when the incident occurred.

Mourners were seen outside of the house of the soccer legend as soon as news went viral announcing his death to the whole world.

Mina Rzouki ,A European football analyst pointed out that when Maradona went to Napoli in the past it caused a stampede in Italian football as he virtually helped to put them on the global and European football map.

She noted that Napoli’s victories during Maradona’s years was vital as it gave them some lift from years of territorial discrimination from its rivals up north.

Ruben Slagter,an analyst at Eurosports said that what made him special was because he came from the poorest parts of Buenos Aires and yet went onto the biggest sporting stages of the world to become a much loved icon…

He pointed out that his getting connected with bad people in Naples who had introduced him to the world of drugs was a bad spot in the life of  the soccer artist but nonetheless insisted that Diego Maradona was the greatest footballer to have ever juggled the round leather.