Maradona praises Argentine squad's team spirit
13/6/2006 16:25
Diego Maradona, one of Argentina's biggest soccer stars in the 1980s and
1990s, praised the team spirit in the 2006 World Cup, according to reports
received in Buenos Aires Monday.
"This is one of the best teams I have seen
in my life," Maradona told reporters in Argentina's base camp Herzogenaurach, a
town 17 km outside Nuremberg. He said that meeting them for a team lunch had
given him "grounds for increasing his belief" in Argentina's World Cup
chances.
In this group "I saw happiness, confidence, optimism and
responsibility... qualities that are essential when you step out onto the
pitch," Maradona said.
"Those that represent Argentina know they cannot put a
foot wrong because those that are outside are waiting for their chance. Their
teeth are gritted, but they are not egotistical. It is a healthy and laudable
exercise of competition," he said.
"Pelusa" (fluffy) as Maradona is known
watched the Argentina-Cote d'Vorie Group C match on Saturday, where Argentina
won 2-1, and rallied the team in their changing room minutes before they took to
the field to play.
"I visited the changing rooms ahead of the Cote d'Vorie
match, and I hope to do so ahead of the Serbia and Montenegro match, before the
Holland match and, God willing, before the final. It was a great experience."
Xinhua News
|
