Diego Maradona is in an unfamiliar position. The former World Cup winning soccer legend and current coach of Argentina is currently out of a World Cup birth by one single position in the rankings and one single point overall. Argentina is not completely out of it yet, but with another loss coming up in October they will likely be done.
Maradona seems to be in the unfamiliar position of having his back up against the wall. But the Hand of God icon is not giving up on his chances of being World Cup bound yet. Here is what Maradona had to say about Argentina’s tough chances of appearing in this summer’s World Cup:
I never imagined myself being in this situation, I thought we would be much higher. But this is the reality. Despite everything we still have a chance, we still aren’t out of the World Cup. While I have a dot of blood I will do everything for Argentina to qualify.
Maradona is on the hot seat and he knows that Argentina has no excuse for missing the Cup. With Lionel Messi leading the charge, you must win games. It’s that simple. If you watched the last World Cup in Germany, Messi dominated squads and Argentina had a strong run deep into the knockout stages. Now he is four years older and four years stronger.
But despite dropping four out of five matches, Argentina is not out of it yet. With a home win over Peru and a road win over Uraguay, Argentina will likely avoid the whole playoff dilemma and receive the final definite bid to the Cup. But if the country loses one of the two matches or suffers a draw, then a playoff game will likely be there only hope to make it South Africa this summer.
Maradona will do everything in his power to see Argentina succeed next month. Too bad the former player can’t help out the squad on the pitch though. Because Argentina will take all the help they can get.
Including a second coming of the Hand of God.
