Int Football - Maradona's Argentina down Scots
Eurosport - Thu, 20 Nov 11:00:00 2008
An early Maxi Rodriguez goal gave Diego Maradona a winning start to his international coaching career as Argentina beat Scotland 1-0 in an international friendly at Hampden Park.
Prior to the match, attention was firmly focused on the charismatic World Cup winner but it was his players that caught the eye once the game was underway as they stormed out of the blocks, leaving George Burley's side with no answer.
With so much talent in their starting line-up, including Premier League-based Javier Mascherano, Carlos Tevez and Jonas Gutierrez, Argentina started as expected: in control and on top.
Maxi broke the deadlock after just eight minutes, the Atletico Madrid midfielder finishing off a lovely flowing passing move that carved open the hosts' defence.
The Scots seemed reluctant to make a challenge as Argentina stormed forward, a mistake Terry Butcher - Scotland's current assistant manager - was guilty of at the World Cup in 1986 when Maradona capitalisedto net his second, wonderful goal against England.
Over 22 years later and it was Tevez who took full advantage of some hesitant defending, feeding Jonas Gutierrez who laid the ball on first time to the onrushing Maxi; he did the rest, beating Allan McGregor with a crisp low shot that proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Argentina could even have taken the lead earlier; it took them just two minutes to fashion a goalscoring chance, Martin Demichelis getting ahead of Chris Iwelumo to meet an early corner with a header that he failed to direct on target.
Four minutes later and the visitors threatened the Scots' goal again, this time Mascherano unleashing a superb volley from 25 yards out that McGregor had to be on his toes to deal with.
Maxi then swooped, but McGregor was able to make amends on 19 minutes, the Rangers keeper denying Argentina a second with a decent stop to repel the impressive Ezequiel Lavezzi's goalbound effort.
Such was Argentina's domination of possession, Scotland's forays forward were limited in their frequency but as the first half progressed George Burley's side slowly began to find a foothold in the game.
Kris Commons, with his direct running, proved a threat on the Scotland left and his cross led to the hosts' first chance of the night, James McFadden controlling beautifully before firing goalwards on the turn.
A moment of indecision between Demichelis and Juan Pablo Carrizo nearly let McFadden in just before the half-time whistle, but the Birmingham City striker's shot was saved by the Argentine keeper.
The second half failed to live up to the expectations produced by such an entertaining first half as Argentina eased off the gas and Burley made full use of his quota of six substitutions.
Napoli striker Lavezzi went close to doubling Argentina's advantage on 52 minutes while Scotland's best chance fell to substitute Lee Miller. The Aberdeen striker had replaced Chris Iwelumo at the break but he passed up the opportunity to make a name for himself with a header from a corner that went wide of the post on 71 minutes.
It proved to be the last real moment of note and as the full-time whistle sounded, the curtain was drawn on what have been a remarkable few days in Glasgow. The place just will not be the same without Maradona.
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Comment 74 - 93 of 93
always making noise england should hide thier face along with mr bucher.learn to w=admire greatness.Argentina And maradona is great
Any chance of an end to this bitterence from the Scots towards the English? (Oh and PLEASE..don't bring medieval battles or The Clearance act" into it) all the culprits are long dead.
I've never understood it. As an Englishman, I have never met any English people who feel bitter towards the Scots, your attitude will only make the English become resentful towards the Scots.
No doubt you will get your Independance in the near future, and if thats what you truly want..then so be it, you won't hear the English complain, but in the mean time..why can't we be friends?...Peace.
Haven´t you realized it yet? ►Argentina rules the Football world! We are the best!!!♥
Im English and was hoping for a Scotland win last night.
oh you poor people. that nasty old mr dago wouldn't even let you win a game at home. maybe the hand of god up your kilts would have done the trick? or how about a free lesson from his "how to cheat at football" 101? even CR is a better footballer than he ever was and to say that, really hurts.
England won a world cup final match on a disputed (but not decisive) goal 42 years ago, Argentina won a world cup quarterfinal match on a disputed (but not decisive) goal 22 years ago. The main protagonists have made their peace with the results, And you clowns are here arguing about it? Talk about Diego Maradona's current job and his results and get a grip on yourselves!
HAND OF GOD MY FOOT.THATS WAS NOT THE ONLY GOAL HE SCORED THAT DAY.AND ALSO THE HAND OF GOD GOAL WAS NOT EVEN THE DECIDER.SO LETS JUST LEAVE THE ISSUE TO REST ARGENTINA WAS BETTER THAT DAY
post 78 your just a loser big words on the internet eh world beaters england big hard man I DONT THINK SO stick yo your own @#$% english thread
A bit ironic that Lard - the scouser accuses 'jocks' of not speaking properrly. Did you ever consider that they might be from another country and speak a different language?
I liked Scott Carson's imitation of namesake Frank last night!
Maradona complains that England won due the goal that was not(? crossed the line). Bu if it did not count England would have still won 3 - 2, unlike his blatant hand of God.(It should not be called hand of God but rather hand of the devil because it was truly devilish what he did). So shut Maradona.
Grande Diego , segui asi, almenos pensas vos a tirarnos la moral arriba, sos un deportista de primera clase. Una fana tuya!!!!! de siempre. Un fuerte abrazo para vos y el equipo! Saludos de Italia para todos! El mundo es uno solo, vivamos un poco mas unidos, besosss. Kiss a tutti!!
Steve4, no you didn't hit a nerve, it's just that some of us would like to concentrate on football and not racist hatred. I live in Newcastle and go to Ayr every year for the Scot Grand National. Great bunch of people and I don't think for one moment you would be man enough to meet them face to face and spill your vile comments; not just you of course but I think that yours was particularly nasty.
Hey!!! 78 Lard (What an appropriate name for a lazy Scouser).Now that you`ve "Borrowed" a computer from somewhere to let the world know your views
So Scots are scum eh? Does this include Shankly,Dalglish,Yeats,St John,Lawrence,Souness,Gillespie,Hansen etc?
We can`t speak properly ? Harry Enfield and a few others have made millions mocking your unintelligible rantings and "STYLE",If you ever "BORROW" a car with enough petrol to get you to Inverness you will find the natives up there speak the most perfect English in the world according to MANY learned and informed people.
Stop spending your giro in the pub get ,rid of the Cortina and use the spare to visit civilisation anywhere over The Mersey.
PS There is NO "BIG 4" Liverpool and Arsenal are`nt in the same league as the other 2 and won`t be for the forseeable future either.
harry h, it was 24 before it got removed so obviously all the other numbers changed!!!!!!!!!!!1
well mark
so you dont like scots if you take the top english teams they owe a lot to scots man u law crearand busby ferguson liverpool shanks dalgleish you even had a scot as assistant manager to name a few not bad for a small nation .well we may not be world beaters at football but we are at winding up some gullible english ha ha up the germans
2008 Friendly International,Glasgow...Scotland 0 Argentina 1....WHO CARES?
1986 WORLD CUP,Mexico City..Argentina 2 England 1.....YEEEEEEEHAAAAAA!!!
1998 WORLD CUP,St Etienne...Argentina 4 England 3 on penalties ...VIVA ARGENTINA!!!
The HAND OF GOD was one of the ALL TIME greatest momments in world football .
A fair and accurate summation of the Scots V English football issues, thank you Tommihew.
HAHAHA Watching a bunch of jocks who cant speak properly singing about Maradona just about sums them up. They have achieved @#$% all in football and have to make a song for an Argentinian, CLASSIC. We beat the Kruats 1-0 in Berlin with England B team and they looked @#$% again at home. Pity the scum aint got the balls for a "friendly" with us we could send up our youth team or "B" team to give the jocks a lesson
Mark! Dont take it so personally, You were up in Glencoe, the further north you go and further off the beaten track you go the more inbred people become, :) its the same in England, Wales, Ireland..France,..spain..USA..etc...all around the world there are muppets, Little man syndome, small minded t*ts are everywhere. Im Scottish and my wake up call to my chip on the shoulder about England was living in London for eight years. We beat you in a qualifier at wembly in 2000 or summat, and i was rubbing it in, then found out that it was only the Scots who hate the English and the English dot hate the Scots...that was a big wake up because why are you gonna go around hating someone who doesnt hate you? Thats just self defeatist. Like I said Small minded. I now support England in Competitions because I support fotball. And you guys are now beginning to play the stuff you should have been playing for the past 10 years.
Scotland have under performed for the last 4 decades
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