JuNkY
06-07-2000, 10:28 AM
Maradona scores twice against Cuban journalists
HAVANA, June 6 (Reuters)(DS) - Argentine
soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Havana for
medical treatment for his cocaine addiction, scored twice on Tuesday as he captained a team of friends to a 6-0 thrashing of a foreign press side at Cuba's main football stadium.
Maradona, who has often had a less than cordial relationship with the press and was once sanctioned for firing a gun at reporters in Argentina, was all smiles before and after the game, played during a tropical downpour at Havana's Pedro Marrero arena.
"Next time, you'll do better," he told the press team, which missed a penalty in a dismal performance as the journalists appeared somewhat awed at being on the same pitch as Maradona. "You can have your revenge, just train a bit first," he recommended to the journalists, who were helped out by Cuba's soccer commissioner Luis Hernandez.
The controversial soccer ace, who lifted the World Cup for Argentina in 1986, played two 25-minute halves -- the longest he has played football since January when he nearly died from a heart condition blamed on drug addiction and a weight problem. Both his goals came from long-range shots, bringing roars of applause from a handful of Cuban onlookers.
Maradona's play, alonside a group of friends from Argentina, was further evidence of his recovery, after he had played 44 minutes in a recent testimonial game for German star Lothar Matthaeus in Munich. Maradona was set to travel to Mexico on Wednesday for two days to watch his beloved former Argentine club, Boca Juniors, play a Mexican side in Latin America's Libertadores Cup. But the former Argentine captain is likely to spend much of the rest of the year in Cuba, where the medical treatment is going well and he has found a peaceful lifestyle he says is
difficult to achieve elsewhere.
His doctors have warned, however, that the fight against his addiction is a long-term one, and while abstinent from drugs since he arrived in Cuba, there was always a risk he could regress. http://www.dailysoccer.com/news/text/done/20000607/mdf52164.html
HAVANA, June 6 (Reuters)(DS) - Argentine
soccer legend Diego Maradona, in Havana for
medical treatment for his cocaine addiction, scored twice on Tuesday as he captained a team of friends to a 6-0 thrashing of a foreign press side at Cuba's main football stadium.
Maradona, who has often had a less than cordial relationship with the press and was once sanctioned for firing a gun at reporters in Argentina, was all smiles before and after the game, played during a tropical downpour at Havana's Pedro Marrero arena.
"Next time, you'll do better," he told the press team, which missed a penalty in a dismal performance as the journalists appeared somewhat awed at being on the same pitch as Maradona. "You can have your revenge, just train a bit first," he recommended to the journalists, who were helped out by Cuba's soccer commissioner Luis Hernandez.
The controversial soccer ace, who lifted the World Cup for Argentina in 1986, played two 25-minute halves -- the longest he has played football since January when he nearly died from a heart condition blamed on drug addiction and a weight problem. Both his goals came from long-range shots, bringing roars of applause from a handful of Cuban onlookers.
Maradona's play, alonside a group of friends from Argentina, was further evidence of his recovery, after he had played 44 minutes in a recent testimonial game for German star Lothar Matthaeus in Munich. Maradona was set to travel to Mexico on Wednesday for two days to watch his beloved former Argentine club, Boca Juniors, play a Mexican side in Latin America's Libertadores Cup. But the former Argentine captain is likely to spend much of the rest of the year in Cuba, where the medical treatment is going well and he has found a peaceful lifestyle he says is
difficult to achieve elsewhere.
His doctors have warned, however, that the fight against his addiction is a long-term one, and while abstinent from drugs since he arrived in Cuba, there was always a risk he could regress. http://www.dailysoccer.com/news/text/done/20000607/mdf52164.html