In the Good Hands of God

Yours truly feels obliged to write about Diego Maradona, the fallen soccer hero who passed away two days ago due to a heart attack.

Even though the Argentinian was never his cup of tea.

Truth be told, Yours Truly grew up in a world dominated by English soccer, which was heavily broadcasted in Hong Kong in the early 80s. In fact, that was probably the only world-class soccer action broadcasted in Hong Kong back in those days, as the coverage on Bundesliga and Serie A came later. Not surprisingly, Yours Truly was really fond of English soccer, and did not know that there were other national soccer teams that he could root for.

So when England, his favourite of the time, was beaten by that diminutive Argentinian single-handedly (figuratively and as-a-matter-of-factly speaking) in THAT quarter final of the 1986 World Cup, there could only be one public enemy for him.

To make matters worse, when Yours Truly started following Serie A, he grew a liking to Milan, and to this day, he will maintain that his all-time favourite is the great Dutch striker Marco Van Basten. But when the minnows Napoli often got in the way of Milan's path to glory, he could always put the blame on that Argentinian genius not much taller than him.

(Speaking of an Argentinian genius not much taller than Yours Truly, there is another one playing for Barcelona right now. And you may have heard of him.)

Anyway.

Yours Truly is impressed by what Maradona had done in his professional life. From humble beginnings to being a global superstar, for leading Napoli, which had achieved virtually nothing before his arrival, to two excellent Serie A titles in four years and a UEFA Cup victory in 1989 (over Stuttgart with Jurgen Klinsmann in the side), and for captaining and leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title almost single-handedly, his impact to the game could never be overstated.

While his private life and drug and alcohol problems may have tarnished his image to some (Yours Truly included), perhaps he should be regarded as a rock star, who rocked and shocked the world with his performance on stage and his undoing off it.

RIP Diego.