[pritovido]

I agree with you.

I was in Spain, and Maradona played there while he was not yet the shadow of himself that became later.

Lots of people admired this man but when he started doing stupid things like being totally drunk and stoned on public, most people stopped admiring him in all places but in Argentina.

I traveled to places like Bariloche and specially Buenos Aires for a very sort time,a month or so, and I could not understand almost the deity that such a bad example represented there.

But then an Argentinian friend explained it to me: You do not understand. It was because of the Malvinas, the English, Maradona represented something like a general that won over the same that defeated and humiliated us and so on...

And then it made sense. I had not made the connection before that.

And yes I agree with you that South America in general follows terrible role models. Places like Colombia or Venezuela look like paradise and are extremely wealthy but then the environment is Hell.

It is very interesting that Argentina and Chile are somewhat like the US and Europe but in reverse, the more to the South you go, the more serious people are, only that there is less and less people and land there to become significant.

[pyman]

First of all, most people admire Maradona as a footballer, not as a person. His unique skills are admired by fans and footballers all over the world, including Lineker, Emlyn Hughes, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Romario, Pep Guardiola, Mourinho, Zidane, Platini, Messi, etc. If you don't consider his abilities to be outstanding, then you are probably not a big football fan.

Secondly, what's your definition of "being a cheat" in football? Let me remind you that kicking Maradona during a match, trying to break his legs so he can no longer play, is cheating. Punching, pushing, hurting someone on purpose is cheating. Even one of the BBC commentators, Emlyn Hughes, said during the England vs Argentina match: "Oh, that was awful. He deserves a red car. Oh well, looks like we got away with it".

Yes, hurting a player on purpose is cheating (England 1986), faking a penalty is cheating (Germany 1990), and scoring a goal with your hand is also cheating (Argentina 1986).

This is why FIFA invented the concept of Fair Play, to stop the English players from hurting others. And also why FIFA invented the VAR, to stop Argentine players from scoring goals with their hand and Germans from faking penalties.

Please, lets stop with the double standards.