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

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  1. It appears that Steve_04s post has been removed, how­ the hell did it get there in the first place.

    From ian mack, on Wed 19 Nov 11:55PM

  2. 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.

    From ian mack, on Wed 19 Nov 11:46PM

  3. Wanted Scotland to win even though Im English. To all­ the english dissin the Scots; Crawl out of your­ arseholes and behave like sporting gentlemen! Maradonna­ is the @#$% enemy here, not the Jocks.

    From will, on Wed 19 Nov 11:35PM

  4. lancelot967

    Haven't seen that... you mean kilts?­ @#$%.

    yus drunk were watching another match.

    typical­ engleish @#$%

    From P M, on Wed 19 Nov 11:32PM

  5. Why not wee Strachan?

    From P M, on Wed 19 Nov 11:27PM

  6. I agree your comments 28 wilflet

    I saw the interview­ in the spanish tv... a bloody traitor this madonna­ is.

    Burley and butcher out!

    Dalglish? why not?

    From P M, on Wed 19 Nov 11:22PM

  7. scottish only had a crowd of 32 tho half wearing­ argentine shirts the other half wearing skirts, were­ the rest of you ! never mind good results all round­ ol'boy !

    From lancelot967, on Wed 19 Nov 11:22PM

  8. Mr Steve_4, tell me, if Scotland are a load of sh t,­ etc etc, can you tell me, If we dont know that much­ about Football, how come the most successful Managers­ in the Premiership are Scottish? And when did an­ Englishman last win it??

    I agree that Scotland were­ poor tonight, and Caldwell and McManus are not the two­ centre back that I would pick, but unfortunatly, we­ have a shi)te Manager ironically.

    From dinof, on Wed 19 Nov 11:10PM

  9. Though Im no scotland supporter burley needs to go. The­ scottish FA needs to act quickly before burley cost­ scotland any chance of qualifying for south africa

    From Eric, on Wed 19 Nov 11:09PM

  10. zezez, it was because he went down everytime as if­ being shot, then complained when he fouled. I think it­ was Heinze.

    From Lowest of th..., on Wed 19 Nov 11:08PM

  11. And every day until the next Scottish humiliation

    From Nicholas, on Wed 19 Nov 11:08PM

  12. whats burley doing smiling in an interview and being­ happy, wake up george we lost. To be the best u have to­ beat the best, no point being on pitch to make up the­ numbers like tonite. George u remind me of berti­ vogts!!

    From Zander, on Wed 19 Nov 11:08PM

  13. Oh and a nice day to follow!!

    From Nicholas, on Wed 19 Nov 11:02PM

  14. GERMANY 1 2 England Scotland(The brave) 0 1 Argentina­
    Have a nice evening!!

    From Nicholas, on Wed 19 Nov 10:52PM

  15. Why does history and politics take over a game of­ football!! I'm in my forties, born in Britain,­ England have parentage, relatives in Scotland, Ireland­ and Poland!! Can we move on and let this game be all­ about football, that we all love and enjoy!!

    From Michelle, on Wed 19 Nov 10:48PM

  16. oh yes, because England win in last minute, the­ friendly results suddenly mean a lot - bet if you lost­ you'd say they were just meaningless eh?

    there is­ no shame in Scotland losing 1-0 to Argentina -­ especially an under strength Scotland team

    well done­ for beating Germany

    From Marc, on Wed 19 Nov 10:38PM

  17. F##K Maradonna, unlucky for Scotland, well done Amy­ Macdonald, your an inspiration!!

    From Michelle, on Wed 19 Nov 10:36PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Typical English bad loser

    From Inigo Q, on Wed 19 Nov 10:33PM

  19. and it would seem that terry butcher cares...dont­ believe hes scottish!

    From stanleyippkiss2003, on Wed 19 Nov 10:32PM

  20. The Argentina B team (they played without their top 3­ players) defeated Scotland without sweating. I­ don't think Scotland had one shot at goal during­ the entire 90 minutes. Great goal by Argentina by the­ way. Oh, and can someone please explain to me why the­ scottish fans were only booing everyone who was playing­ left back in the argentinian team? They booed that left­ back fellow for no reason at all and then he was­ substituted and the new one was also booed for no­ reason!! I guess the scots have a personal grudge­ against left backs...

    From Zezez Z, on Wed 19 Nov 10:30PM
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