A personal appeal to Diego Maradona

By: Brett | February 11th, 2010

maradona y riquelme

The truth is out – Diego Maradona is in love with Juan Roman Riquelme.

Problem is, love isn’t enough for him to take the gifted playmaker to South Africa. Not as a part of his World Cup squad, anyway.

That’s right, Boca Offsiders. In a week where he refused to answer questions of why he picked an injured player for his teams recently friendly with Jamaica, accused Jorge Valdano of being Anti-Argentine and claimed that Real Madrid ‘ruined’ Gabriel Heinze, current Argentina coach, Diego Maradona, also felt the time was right to declare his love for current Boca number 10, Juan Roman Riquelme.

Trouble was, he made this sweet, heartfelt, declaration a moment after taking any lingering hopes Roman may have had about being on the plane to South Africa and effectively shooting them in the face from close range with a cannon.

“It’s a closed subject. I called Riquelme up last March and he didn’t come. I love how he plays and I hope he returns to his best form for Boca Juniors, who need him,” Maradona was quoted as saying by local reporters.

It seems that, in the year since their falling out, Diego has been able to come to terms with his love for our current number 10, but not enough so as to forgive and forget his previous indiscretions.

Doesn’t Diego understand? If 80’s power rock ballads have taught us nothing, it’s that love can conquer all.

With that in mind, what is Diego so afraid of?

I guess it’s pretty obvious – he’s afraid of being hurt again. So, I would now like to make a personal appeal to the man himself:

I know what you must be feeling, Diego. Believe me, we’ve all been there. You put yourself out there, made yourself vulnerable, by calling Roman up for that national team game last March. You weren’t expecting to be rejected. You thought your relationship was built on a solid foundation. I mean, you’ve both worn the most coveted jersey at one of the world’s biggest clubs. You thought what the two of you had was unbreakable. But, sadly, it wasn’t.

And now it’s hard for you to trust him again. So, against your better judgment, you’re rejecting a man who you know would add substantial quality to your team. A man truly capable of taking you to heaven and back. In a footballing sense, anyway. Roman has been in splendid touch for Boca thus far in this year’s Clausura. World Cup squad form. And you know it.

AFA President Julio Grondona knows it, too. He knows what’s going on, and he wants to get you crazy kids back together. He knows you need each other.

So, he tried to start a dialogue. But, you still hurting and not ready to talk yet. So, you’re lashing out in the media.

It’s ok. You still have four months to make it right. And I trust that you can, and will.

The pain you are feeling over your love for Roman can very easily be seen in your team selection policy. Your mind is clearly all over the place. It’s being torn apart, isn’t it?

How else would you explain why you insist on picking players like Heinze, Gutierrez and Collocini, but apparently have no time for Zarate, Diego Milito and Walter Samuel?

Love can conquer all, Diego. You’ve just got to try. And, when the player you love is capable of this,