Word: soccering
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...over the reins of Argentina's bid to reclaim the World Cup next year in South Africa, Maradona had produced a string of setbacks hard to swallow for the fans of a team that includes some of the world's most gifted players. (See pictures of Johannesburg preparing for Soccer's World...
...Argentina may have long been the unquestioned top dogs of Latin American soccer along with Brazil, but it took a final-minute goal against lowly Uruguay last week to scrape through the qualifying tournament for next year's World Cup in South Africa. It was a moment of desperate relief after months of abysmal performances that had all of Argentina anxious that their team might miss its first World Cup since 1970, a devastating blow for national pride that not even the country's deep love for Maradona could have survived...
...claim both Italian and indigenous ancestry; and politically he has veered from hobnobbing with right-wing Peronists such as former Argentine President Carlos Menem in the 1990s to being an outspoken and unconditional supporter of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez today. (See a video of Lebanon's landmine survivor soccer team...
...soccer icon certainly thrives on confrontation, especially with the press. Whether it is firing a compressed-air rifle at pesky journalists outside his home (he struck four and received a three-year suspended sentence a few years ago) or, as he did last week, hurling verbal abuse at them in a press conference after the meager victory against Uruguay. "You can suck it, keep on sucking it," a triumphant but spiteful Maradona spat out at journalists who had dared criticize his coaching skills...
...that outburst seemed to those who know and love Maradona as just another instance of typical bravado, it could backfire badly. The barrage of insults he hurled at journalists was televised, prompting world soccer's governing body FIFA to open an inquiry that could result in him being suspended from coaching the team for up to five games - potentially a death blow to Maradona's hopes of keeping his job for the World...