Yet that’s exactly what happened yesterday, when Maradona fielded easily the most attacking line up of the World Cup so far, and Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0. El Diego’s starting XI featured the following attacking players: Angel Di Maria, Juan Veron, Gonzalo Higuain, Leo Messi, Carlos Tevez and Jonas Gutierez, with the latter playing out of position at right back. That’s six players (over half the team) who can only be described as either attackers or creators. It would be an attacking galore if all the coaches in World Cup practice this.
Obviously that’s not realistic. Coaches want to win things, getting organized and balanced is usually what does the trick. It takes a crazy person to field that many attacking players with only Javier Mascherano to keep the defenders company. Fortunately Diego Maradona is such a crazy person. If only the other 31 coaches were equally crazy, then this would be the best World Cup ever.
Another thing is, after Leo Messi’s performance against Nigeria, we can now finally stop saying that Maradona is failing to get Messi playing well. Although he didn't score but he finally looked and played like the Leo Messi we all knew. It's about time for him to shine in the biggest stage of all.
Hopefully, yesterday's win was not a fluke.
Vamos, vamos Argentina!