Soccer – Maradona hired to coach team in Dubai

Considering exclusively his coaching credential, hiring Diego Armando Maradona as the head coach of any team is arguably a very bad investment. Take his charismatic personality, his fame, and the controversial glory he lived as a soccer legend in the eighties and early nineties and you have what in appearance is a great investment for a well-financed but developing team and extremely young professional league. Maradona was hired to coach United Arab Emirates club Al Wasl this Monday, after a somewhat disgraceful run ahead of the Argentinean national team. Considering what sort of players he had and all the media attention his team had deserved, falling 4-0 to the Germans in the South Africa 2010 quarterfinals was the finishing touch for a disastrous run ahead of the albiceleste squad. The sports club, which includes the soccer team, is chaired by Sheik Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a brother of the Dubai ruler. So as you might have already guess, there's a fairly big bankroll to support this sort of investments. The team Al Wasl is considered one of the top clubs in Dubai, which is really not much of a bragging right, particularly considering that the team hasn't won anything since 2007. That year it won the title of the former UAE league, which included mainly amateur clubs, and the UAE Presidents Cup. It wasn't until three year ago that the league turned fully professional. Before taking over as coach of Argentina in 2008, Maradona had coached only Deportivo Mandiyu in 1994 and Racing Club in 1995. In both cases, he left before his contract was up. He isn't known for his perseverance on the bench or on his personal life. Under Maradona leadership, Argentina's results were mixed to put it mildly. Many would believe that although he is the best player to have worn the 10 jersey, some would also believe that he only hurt his national team's chances to win the World Cup when he took over. The Argentinean national team suffered two of its worst losses, a 6-1 rout by Bolivia in World Cup qualifying and a 4-0 quarterfinal loss to Germany during the tournament in South Africa during the two and a half year he held his post. The team is certainly having some issues. They are currently fourth in their league and considering they already fired their previous coach, it is quite uncertain how the whole deal is going to play out considering Maradon left for Spain on Sunday and is not coming back until June. As if that was not enough, the team management is certainly suffering some sort of grandeur delusion. On the press release the team president made the following statement. "Al Wasl Sports Club has become synonymous with achievements of this caliber, and we are very pleased to be welcoming Maradona to a long line of accolades in the club's history". These were the words of the team's vice president Marwan Bin Bayat. Truth be said, we are not sure what that caliber is, but one thing is certain: there are no accolades in Al Wasl's soccer team. He then followed with something a little more in accord to reality: "This partnership embodies the vision of the club as it embraces forward thinking developments in the region to establish unprecedented standards for the sport." We'll have to wait and see if Maradona can deliver such a tall order.