It now appears that Diego Maradona had actually 'apologized' after scoring what is probably his best goal. At least that is what the Argentine genius told a group that had met him last month to get his final seal of approval for the upcoming trip to India.
"There were five of us - Maradona's agent, the brother of national player Gabriel Heinze, two directors of Celebrity Management Group and I - and the scheduled 10-minute meeting stretched to an hour with the discussion veering to everything from Fidel Castro to Maradona's famous run that ended in a brilliant goal against England at the 1986 World Cup final," said Samik Lahiri, the MP from Diamond Harbour who is now at the heart of the organizing committee dealing with the high-profile visit.
"When it came to that goal, even before his interpreter could complete our question, Maradona was on to describing it," remembers Lahiri. "He said he was in two minds when he was upon Peter Shilton because Valdano was in a better position to score, but he realized he had to get behind the last man because he feared the class of the English goalkeeper, and knew Shilton may well have turned and narrowed the angle for Valdano," Lahiri recounted, adding: "Maradona then told us that he apologized to Valdano for not releasing the ball to him but that he had also felt he made the right choice. He said that Valdano had agreed and then, rather shockingly, Maradona told us that many in Argentina still feel he should have passed to Valdano!"
If football fans in this city and beyond are now quivering in anticipation of the Argentine legend's arrival later this week, blame it on that often-asked question. Why can't India produce top-class footballers? "It was some four years ago when the question came up again while we were chatting in this little group that had, among others, former footballers Shankar Banerjee and Manas Bhattacharya," says Lahiri. "This time, we didn't stop there but wanted to do something about it."
E-mails were shot off to some of the leading football academies of the world so that they could find the formula. "The model of a leading academy in South Africa, which has their national coach at the helm, looked impressive but when their representative visited the proposed venue and gave his wish list in terms of infrastructure, we realized the cost of project would be beyond us," said Lahiri, who has found a few financial backers to get him started.
They have finally settled for a top Argentine club's model that targets to produce 40 top-drawer footballers from a base of 1,000. "We'll identify talent from about 20 to 25 coaching centres but that's a process that will take some time to complete," says Lahiri. "It was during our exchange of e-mails that both parties felt the need for sensitization of more Indians to the beautiful game. It was then that the dream of bringing Maradona was born. It would be the big bang to draw attention."
The first few steps were taken over e-mail to Maradona's ex-wife Claudia, and then the communication hub shifted to Maradona's agents. It all culminated with a visit to Maradona's home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires early last month, only days after he was appointed coach of the national side.
Well, when you are looking for the big kickoff to a dream, what better than the left foot of Diego Armando Maradona!
