MARADONA

DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA

Once the family convinced don Diego to let Pelusa attend the tryout, he still had to wait. Only a couple of days, but to him, it was a century away. The day arrived at last. A group of guys from Villa Fiorito took the bus 28 (the green, as they would refer to it) to Pompeya. From there, they got on the 44 till they found themselves at Argentino’s training center, called Las Malvinas. Amongst them all, there were three boys, Diego, Goyo and Montañita, who would never stay apart. But when they got there, they were all turned off: it was raining so much that they couldn’t even step on the field…the tryout was going to be put off! Was it?

It is worth to hold on for a second. It hadn’t been easy for Diego to get there: don Diego’s green light wasn’t going to last for ever, it was hard to get the money for the bus’ tickets, the trainers didn’t have so much time to travel with a bunch of boys from Fiorito. Had Diego thought all that?

The trainer’s voice (Francis Cornejo), the discoverer of talents, the guide of the growing group, got him out of his sadness: "Let’s go! Everyone to don Yayo’s van.. We’ll go to another field!". The van was a Rastrojero, somewhat dilapidated and don Yayo was Emilio Trotta, Cornejo’s assistant. The other field turned out to be Saavedra’s Park. Two teams were made up there. Diego and Goyo went in, together, in the second round. If they had always been rivals, they couldn’t tell. What was notorious from the way they played was the friendship they both held. They showed off in different fantastic moves and plenty of goals. So many, that not even Diego remembers how many they had scored. And although it is unbelievable after having performed in such a way, don Francis’ first reaction was not the best one. The man thought they were pulling his leg, that kid, short and skinny with curly hair couldn’t possibly be nine years old. He was convinced he was…a dwarf! Cornejo went near Diego and asked him if he was sure he had been born in 1960. Diego, shrinking himself even more, somehow scared, nodded. The man asked him for the ID and he wanted to die… he didn’t have it on him!

Something, maybe the intuition, made don Francis realize that it wasn’t worth worrying. That the only important thing was to make sure that boy kept on playing. He never imagined that, in a short time, he had to be the one who lied about his phenomenon’s age. And not precisely in the same way.

THE MONSTER

At last, Francis had Diego’s ID. But he had gained something more important, don Deigo’s and doña Tota’s trust regarding their son. So the man took Maradona everywhere, even to the matches with older guys. It seems incredible, but that’s how the story goes. In the same way that the Brazilians used older football players in the junior tournaments, Argentinos called a younger one to play against older teams.

Already, at Sacachispas’ field, against Racing, the match of the 14 year old boys was hard, nil-nil and nothing happened. Francis made signs to the dark boy who was part of the reserve and sent him into the field. He was eleven and scored two super-goals. The rival coach, who knew Francis pretty well, got close to him astonished: "How is it that you keep such a phenomenon in reserve?" he said. Francis just smiled, tapped him on the back, and left.

Another time, in a match against Boca, he did the same thing. But as everyone already knew the name of Maradona, he changed it. Instead, he wrote on the board Montanya. The thing was that the situation of the match was even worse: they were loosing three-nil. So Cornejo sent…Montanya into the field. He scored a goal immediately, and another, they managed to draw the match. And during the last hurray his mates screwed it up crying out: "Great, Diego!". The rival coach went crazy, and run towards Cornejo shouting at him: "You made Diego play, you sun of a…!"

Maradona was already a known surname, even tough the first time it appeared in a newspaper, an error slipped up. In the edition of the 28^th September, 1971, Clarín referred to a guy with demeanor. A sort of crack whose name was…Caradona. It wasn’t that the way he appeared as in the list of the matches Los Cebollitas took part in. They had quite a stable team: Ojeda, Trotta, Chaile, Chammah, Montaña: Lucero, Dalla Buona, Maradona: Duré, Carrizo and Delgado. They remained unbeaten for 136 matches, all recorded in a notebook that Claudia jealously keeps. In the last period they went on a tour to many places. They even went to Uruguay and Perú, finishing at Navarro, in the province of Buenos Aires. The story was already written and also forecasted what was coming next, sooner or later.


SCORING AGAINST THE BRITISH

Maradona’s history is cyclic. Hence, fantastic. It is possible to come across clues that explain everything he went through. At least, a good part of it. In his unforgettable Cebollita Phase, Diego scored two goals that could be well considered the pattern of the ones he would score in a unique match against the British, some time later, during Mexico’s World Cup in 1986.

Although it might seem untrue, he had already done something similar to that feat that is considered the best goal in the history of World Cups. It was due in 1973, in a final match against River. Diego capered seven players and scored.

It is curious that he also scored one alike The Hand of God. It was in Saavedra’s Park. The rivals saw him, the referee didn’t and the situation turned into chaos. It was finally considered a goal.


LET HIM STAY

Los Cebollitas became famous as their victories increased and there magic glowed. So did Maradona. He was even invited by Pipo Mancera, the TV host of the most watched show of those times, early 60’s. Diego climbed to the junior league of Argentinos Juniors and his debut in the ninth division had as a prize, the first Title, the first Olympic Lap.

His name was not only attractive to the press, but also to larger clubs. Through its president, William Kent, River made his interest public. The director faced don Diego and asked him to decide on a price for his son’s pass, because he wanted to buy his talent. The answer of the beloved Chitoro is part of the big history of Maradona: "No, no, thanks, Dieguito is very happy playing at Argentinos".

Dieguito was happy, for instance playing with the rounded Pintier balls, during the recess between the two halves of the matches of First Division. It had been Cornejo’s idea: he had given a ball to Diego and he started playing with it, and people paid attention to nothing but him. When the teams came back to start off the second half of the match the ovation faded out: "Let him stay! / Let him stay!". It was the first ovation Maradona had in his life, before the classic " Maradóóó, Maradóóó!"

By those times, Jorge Cyterszpiler, was close to the group. Ruso’s brother, that’s how they used to call him, had been a great promise to Argentinos Juniors. But an illness made both, the illusion and his life, come to an end. Cyterszpiler didn’t go back to a club, until he was told of Maradona. He then came back. And never split from that group, becoming the older brother of everyone there.

Many times Diego ate and slept over his house. He shared with him dreams that each day were closer to become true. Like the time that he almost made his debut in the first division. It was on the 14^th August, 1975. A football players’ strike left the Fist Division without professionals. Argentinos had to play against River at Vélez’s Stadium. Francis, who didn’t like to be pushed against the big ones, asked the coach, Francisco Campana, to include Diego in the team, as they were all young players… That couldn’t be possible. He only wished it had been. But he didn’t have to wait much though, just a year.