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.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 International friendlies Scotland-Argentina Javier Zanetti Kris Commons - 0

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.

Eurosport

Comment 34 - 53 of 93

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. To the Scots only:

    What aboot wee Strachan?...
    71.
    I­ guess Souness was a great player but isnae a good­ manager.
    Agree, a man with some b*lls.

    From willflet, on Thu 20 Nov 2:05AM

  2. with out question all world loves scotish? and irish­ ?.
    See my name,see my name!!! at least the proud brave­ Irish had the guts to stand up to the English, unlike­ the jocks who just held out their hands for the Barnett­ formula cash and took the English tax payers money and­ ran to the pub and then the chippy for another deep­ fried meat pie.

    From chris, on Thu 20 Nov 1:47AM

  3. WHAT WE NEED IS A MANAGE WITH SOME BAL*S, LIKE A­ SOUNESS FOR EXAMLPLE, KILL OFF THERE EGOS AND PLAY WITH­ PASSION/SOUL AND SPIRIT, WE ARE NOT GIFTED WITH­ SKILLFULL PLAYERS, WE NEVER HAVE BEEN, WE USED TO BE­ ABLE TO FIELD A TEAM OF 11 PLAYERS WITH PASSION, LETS­ FIND A SQUAD WITH A UP AND LET THEM HAVE IT ATTITUDE,­ NOT KICK EM OFF THE PARK STUFF, HARD, LIKE WE USE TO,­ THEN MAYBE JUST MAYBE, WE CAN GET SOMEWHERE, 90 MINS OF­ PASSION FROM PASSION FILLED PLAYERS, THEY GET PAID­ ENOUGH, NOT MUCH TO ASK FOR A TEAM THAT WANTS TO PLAY­ FOR THERE COUNTRY, MNEL

    From melclark_uk, on Thu 20 Nov 1:34AM

  4. bla bla bla­ blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

    From akam, on Thu 20 Nov 1:27AM

  5. next up the nostril of god ?

    From tombeattie38, on Thu 20 Nov 1:26AM

  6. with out question all world loves scotish and irish but­ the fact every body hate @#$% english

    From akam, on Thu 20 Nov 1:19AM

  7. Burley and butcher KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! PM OAP

    From David, on Thu 20 Nov 1:14AM

  8. ALL IS FORGIVEN Diego ! YOU HAVE REDEEMED TA FELLA!

    From David, on Thu 20 Nov 1:08AM

  9. Ashley LSD

    From P M, on Thu 20 Nov 1:07AM

  10. The whole world loves Scotland.. can you say the same­ about your country?

    hahahaha... well said mate...!

    IS­ that a proper reply?...mmmmmmmmm

    Aye, the whole world­ loves engeland!... a new one!
    and yer quennie..!­ hahahaha....
    Slàinte!

    From P M, on Thu 20 Nov 12:59AM

  11. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA­ ENGLAND RESERVES 2 GERMANY 1 - - SCOTLAND 0 THATS­ ZERO MARA'S ARGENTINA 1 HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA­ HA NUFF SAID

    From David, on Thu 20 Nov 12:56AM

  12. The whole world loves scotland! such arrogance, i think­ you will find that thanks to tony B LIAR and Gormless­ Gordon the whole world hates you with a passion, just­ like i do, so foot off.

    From chris, on Thu 20 Nov 12:48AM

  13. do scotland still play football?

    From DAVID, on Thu 20 Nov 12:39AM

  14. scotland got stuffed by a team with an ugly deformed­ lying cheating runt of a simpleton for a manager, how­ nice. too many deep fries pies and mars bars, go and­ have a heart attack soon.

    From chris, on Thu 20 Nov 12:30AM

  15. oh @#$% off maradona you cheated to win the world cup­
    what hand of god you have you are a big cheater

    From jazzmogun, on Thu 20 Nov 12:16AM

  16. That banner saying thanks for 1988 shows how much the­ scots hate the English, it also shows how immature they­ are.
    See if you like this one. Edward 1 of England­ (Longshanks) Thanks for 23rd August 1305, a great day­ for England.

    From chris, on Thu 20 Nov 12:15AM

  17. I have never seen a country FA that allows an­ individual to destroy her game like scotland FA.­ Scotland is the only counry in the world that has a­ problem and refused to apply the solution. Burley team­ lacks the ability to score yet left the best striker in­ scotland out of his team. Boddy is the best striker in­ scotland today yet the coach has frustrated him out of­ the team citing Smith refusal to use him as an excuse.­ Burley, think, how has Rangers fare without Boddy? Even­ Smith is quilty that is why Rangers continue to suffer­ admist plenty. Once again, witout the goalscoring­ machine, Scotland woes continue. For how long will you­ allow Burley to destroy your game? Scotish FA the time­ to act is now. Babs mila dundee

    From Babatunde, on Thu 20 Nov 12:10AM

  18. it seems i hit a nerve! "and iiiii would walk 500­ miles and i would walk 500 more, just to p**s accross­ the border" :)

    From mr_steve4, on Thu 20 Nov 12:08AM

  19. im glad you sctoish clowns lost again ....get a base­ where you train younge players or forget the true scot­ player
    in the 70s and 80s every team had a few scots­ ...now the hand of god on the bench fu£$s you up
    sorry­ i wanted you to win till i heard you @#$%s on the­ radio!!!!!!
    you stil need new scot blood runinning thro­ the vaines of scotish football

    From DAVID, on Thu 20 Nov 12:01AM

  20. Post24, steve_04. Where's the mods. This is a­ disgaceful post. I'm not a Scot but English. I­ would hate to be tarred with the same brush as you­ Steve.
    ------------------------------------------------­ --
    It was post 23 not 24, tut-tut-tut.
    Scotland got­ beat, woooooohoooooo yippeeeeeeeeee,­ wooooooohooooooooooo, yippeeeeeeeeee.
    England won,­ again. woooooooooooooohoooooooooooooo,­ yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

    From Bobby Robson A Legend, on Wed 19 Nov 11:59PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account