What happened to the Zidane match career report thread made by the dude with bugs bunny pfp? Wish it was continued
So this one right here is the 1st goal from Free Kick for Maradona in the 1978 campaign. After 82 official games with Argentinos Juniors, Diego has 37 goals including 6 penalties and 4 free kicks. He scored the other 3 FK during the 77 Metro. Maradona scored at least 1 goal in the last 6 games for a total of 8 goals. Longest scoring streak of his career so far: 2 goals vs Velez in round 27 1 goal vs Colon in round 29 1 goal vs Estudiantes in round 30 1 goal vs San Lorenzo in round 31 2 goals vs Huracan in round 32 1 goal vs Quilmes in round 33 *Argentinos jr did not play in round 28 of Metro 1978.
That was a good thread, well researched and structured, with lots of information. I have most of the Serie A 1996-2000 grades of Guerin Sportivo, which I plan to continue releasing, which would have been a good addition to his work.
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 34 27/09/1978 Platense 2-2 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Atlanta (Platense were local) Field condition: unknown No grades from El Gráfico and only the newspaper of La Nación I possess as a source. This was a battle of Platense fighting to stay alive in the first division (they were penultimate in the standings and at that point on their way to relegation) against Argentinos who still had a chance at a podium finish. Platense seemed desperate and took the initiative from the start and were the better side. They would go to the half with a 2-1 lead. Maradona had been tightly marked and little he could do. The second half was another story, Argentinos were stronger as Platense tired. La Nación wrote: “Also the influence of Maradona improved who together with Fren dominated the midfield and pushed their forwards into being more incisive (...) In Argentinos stood out Maradona, Fren and Rios, meanwhile for Platense the goalkeeper Perez and Mastromauro, for his work-rate.”
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 35 01/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 3-2 Banfield Stadium: La Paternal, Argentinos Juniors Field condition: poor Banfield were in the relegation zone and needed a win to stay in the fight for permanency in the first division. La Nación headlined: “Good game from Argentinos against a disorganized opponent” Banfield fought hard at the beginning, then La Nación wrote, “but it was enough for Maradona to retreat a little back in order to attack with better panorama and with the possession of the ball secured, to beat an opponent that only showed enthusiasm.“ El Gráfico “From the midfield and up the home side was superior and provided spectacle. The genius plays of Maradona and the runs of Favret and Ovelar brought anguish to the defense of Banfield (...) El Gráfico rated Diego with a 9 for excellence and also awarded him the man of the match. Summary: 1 goal (PK)
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 36 08/10/1978 Chacarita 2-3 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Chacarita Field condition: terrible La Nación headlined: “Valuable conquest for Argentinos” El Gráfico “Intense — In the first half only one side played: Argentinos Juniors. Suffocating Chacarita, managing the rhythm of the game through the good work of its midfielders and taken by the hand of the talent of Maradona. With a simple game, at one touch, and forceful in attack, culminating with a beautiful goal from Maradona, AJ went ahead 3-1. Thereafter they handed the initiative to the home side, waiting with numbers at the back and Chacarita, with the possession in their favor were never able to resolve situations because they got lost in slow inconsequential plays” Maradona had a very good game, rated with an 8 and El Gráfico’s man of the match. Summary: 2 goals (1 PK)
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 37 10/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-0 Rosario Central Stadium: Atlanta (Argentinos were local) Field condition: unknown No grades from El Gráfico were found for this round. La Nación wrote that Rosario Central started the first half very defensively, strengthening all sectors with even their forwards retreating. Argentinos relied on the tandem of Maradona-Fren to unlock their defense. But inside that setting, the spectacle was mediocre. In the second period, Argentinos made some changes and it paid off with an opportunistic goal from Maradona, after the goalkeeper had given a rebound. The win was just because it rewarded the team that had more ‘ambition’. Summary: 1 goal http://mcd.viasolutions.com.ar/partidos/metropolitano-1978-argentinos-jrs-rosario-central-37.html
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 38 16/10/1978 San Lorenzo 2-0 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: San Lorenzo Field condition: unknown At this stage of the competition Argentinos Juniors had virtually lost any chance at a podium finish. Boca Juniors and Quilmes were fighting neck and neck for the title. Unión of Santa Fe had pretty much locked up the 3rd place in the standings. Argentinos were closing in on an honorable top 5 finish, which was the best outing for the club since 1960. In this match no grades from El Gráfico was found. La Nación headlined: “Deserved win for San Lorenzo” Maradona, apart from a shot that went wide, was well marked out of the game by San Lorenzo’s stoppers, who took turns with Collovani and Sanz at shadowing him. For the home side, Marangoni was the standout figure that led his team to a convincing victory.
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 39 19/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-0 All Boys Stadium: San Lorenzo (Argentinos were local) Field condition: unknown The neighborhood derby between these two was more for bragging rights than anything else. All Boys had already secured their place in top flight football, while Argentinos were simply wrapping up an excellent campaign. This match was decided by a solitary first half Maradona goal where La Nación headlined: “Deserved victory for Argentinos” Maradona was the “axis” for the team that controlled the game in the first half and later decided to conserve the lead by pulling back and counterattacking in the second period. El Gráfico produced no grades for this round. Summary: 1 goal
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 40 22/10/1978 Unión (Santa Fe) 2-1 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Unión (Santa Fe) Field condition: Good Unión had arrived on a hot streak of 14 rounds unbeaten, which positioned them in 3rd place and still with an outside shot at contending for the crown, while Argentinos were only playing for honor. But in terms of personal achievement, Maradona was still in the hunt to becoming the youngest player ever in Argentina’s first division to top the scoring charts. However, things wouldn’t go his way this time as the home team were clearly superior. Both La Nación and El Gráfico stated that he was locked up by the defender Merlo and rated Diego poorly with a match grade of a 5. La Nación also stated that AJ were a team that suffered when Maradona is shutdown since the rest of the team have players incapable of taking the mantle once he is canceled out. The standings after 40 rounds:
Independiente and San Lorenzo had showed serious interest to sign Maradona for the 1979 campaign, but so did River Plate. El Gráfico had forecasted how River could look in the next season. The roster would have consisted of virtually the best players in the country.
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 41 24/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-1 Gimnasia Y Esgrima (LP) Stadium: Atlanta (Argentinos were local) Field condition: regular With one round to play after this, both sides fielded their reserves and probably had the top scoring title not been in play, Maradona would not have featured in the last few rounds. The spectacle was poor where El Gráfico summarized how both sides divided the game with long balls, with the repetition of constant fouls. In general both sides were rated poorly, including Maradona with a grade of a 5. Diego would still have one more game to secure the title of top scorer on the road against Racing.
Metropolitan Championship 1978 Round 42 (final round) 29/10/1978 Racing 2-2 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Racing Field condition: Good This match proved crucial for Diego to snatch the top scorer title with 22 goals overall. El Gráfico “Both points didn’t matter and besides both squads fielded many bench players (...)” Diego scored one goal and assisted the other to end on a high note. Argentinos Juniors finished 5th in the standings and Maradona topped the goalscoring charts with Andreuchi of Quilmes as joint top scorers. El Gráfico rated Diego with a 7 for a good performance. La Nación praised Diego’s performance, stating he produced plays of the highest order and scored a ‘brilliant individual goal’. Summary: 1 goal, 1 assist The final standings had Argentinos finish in 5th place, their second best finish in their history behind the 3rd place in 1960. Some may have felt that had Maradona not missed 9 league matches, where his club lost 5 games and drew 2 and won the rest, that maybe AJ would have finished anywhere in the top 3.
I’ll make a statistical recap of Diego’s Metro 1978 campaign soon, with his final grades from El Gráfico, plus some additional information. Stay tuned...
Apparently he played in 39 games, according to the ideal team of El Gráfico’s tournament. However, Maradona was registered as having played 30 games but in reality he played 31 so there may have been a slight variation. In any event he definitely played more games than Diego. I’ll post that information soon.
Overall statistical summary of Diego Maradona's Metropolitan Championship 1978 10/03/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-0 Boca Juniors 16/03/1978 Atlanta 2-5 Argentinos Juniors 3 goals 19/03/1978 Argentinos Juniors 3-4 Estudiantes (Bs. As.) 23/03/1978 Newell’s Old Boys 3-0 Argentinos Juniors 26/03/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-1 Velez Sarsfield 21/05/1978 Argentinos Juniors 5-0 Chacarita 3 goals, 1 assist 02/07/1978 Rosario Central 0-0 Argentinos Juniors 07/07/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-1 San Lorenzo 1 goal 16/07/1978 All Boys 1-1 Argentinos Juniors 1 assist 23/07/1978 Argentinos Juniors 5-2 Unión (Santa Fe) 30/07/1978 Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) 1-0 Argentinos Juniors 09/08/1978 Argentinos Juniors 2-1 River Plate 1 goal (header), 1 assist 13/08/1978 Boca Juniors 1-1 Argentinos Juniors 17/08/1978 Argentinos Juniors 2-0 Atlanta 20/08/1978 Estudiantes (Bs. As.) 0-2 Argentinos Juniors 1 assist (La Nación) but El Gráfico mentioned another player 25/08/1978 Argentinos Juniors 0-0 Newell’s Old Boys 30/08/1978 Velez Sarsfield 0-2 Argentinos Juniors 2 goals (1 PK) 10/09/1978 Argentinos Juniors 2-1 Colón (Santa Fe) 1 goal (PK) 14/09/1978 Estudiantes (LP) 2-1 Argentinos Juniors 1 goal (free kick) 18/09/1978 Argentinos Juniors 4-1 Independiente 1 goal 20/09/1978 Huracán 1-2 Argentinos Juniors 2 goals (2 PKs) 25/09/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-1 Quilmes 1 goal 27/09/1978 Platense 2-2 Argentinos Juniors 01/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 3-2 Banfield 1 goal (PK) 08/10/1978 Chacarita 2-3 Argentinos Juniors 2 goals (1 PK) 10/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-0 Rosario Central 1 goal 16/10/1978 San Lorenzo 2-0 Argentinos Juniors 19/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-0 All Boys 1 goal 22/10/1978 Unión (Santa Fe) 2-1 Argentinos Juniors 24/10/1978 Argentinos Juniors 1-1 Gimnasia Y Esgrima (LP) 29/10/1978 Racing 2-2 Argentinos Juniors 1 goal, 1 assist Metropolitan Championship 1978 Total: 31 games 22 goals + 4 or 5 assists (confirmed) Maradona was the joint top scorer with 22 goals. He scored 15 from open play, 6 penalty kicks and 1 free kick. Note: The assists information is not the final word due to insufficient information in matches that did not get into details of every goal. I will soon get into a final summary of grades and awards and what impressions were left from an excellent campaign.
A final review of Maradona’s Metropolitan Championship 1978 Grades According to the information available, El Gráfico rated Maradona in 22 games out of 31 in the following way: 2 spectacular games with a 10 3 excellent games with a 9 3 very good games with a 8 4 good games with a 7 6 correct games with a 6 4 poor games with a 5 In the 22 graded games available El Gráfico awarded Maradona 10 man of the match awards: Round 2 vs Boca Juniors Round 3 vs Atlanta Round 15 vs Chacarita Round 17 vs San Lorenzo Round 19 vs Union (Santa Fe) Round 23 vs Boca Juniors Round 25 vs Estudiantes (Bs. As.) Round 27 vs Velez Sarsfield Round 35 vs Banfield Round 36 vs Chacarita The source of the magazine of Goles rated Diego with many man of the match awards, but one of them being in round 24 vs Atlanta, where the info is missing from El Gráfico. But unfortunately for the magazine of Goles, only half of the season I had information so I couldn’t reach a final conclusion. Against the top 5 ranked teams, Quilmes, Boca Juniors, Unión (Santa Fe), San Lorenzo (AJ finished 5th) Maradona’s El Gráfico grades and goals looked like this: 6 games 1 goal Boca Juniors 1-0 grade of 7 (man of the match) San Lorenzo 1-1 grade of a 9 (man of the match) Unión (Santa Fe) 5-2 grade of a 8 (man of the match) Boca Juniors 1-1 grade of a 7 (man of the match) San Lorenzo 0-2 no grade available Unión (Santa Fe) 1-2 grade of a 5 Argentinos Juniors without Maradona went 2 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses. Round 1 lost 2-1 vs River Plate Round 8 lost 3-1 vs Colón Round 9 won 1-0 vs Estudiantes (LP) Round 10 won 3-1 vs Independiente Round 11 drew 0-0 vs Huracán Round 12 lost 2-0 vs Quilmes Round 13 lost 2-1 vs Platense Round 14 drew 2-2 vs Banfield Round 21 lost 4-2 vs Racing Maradona led the way as the highest rated player in El Gráfico’s ideal team: Final impressions This campaign was Maradona’s finest as a professional. The youngest top goalscorer in Argentina’s professional history at 17 years old and apparently the youngest top scorer ever in a professional league. And it wasn’t only that he topped the scoring charts but many of his open play goals were considered of the highest order, some framed as a ‘piece of art’. Argentinos Juniors as a club obtained their second best finish ever finishing in 5th place. Diego received at least 10 man of the match awards from El Gráfico, in 22 registered games that were graded, improving the average of his previous 10 awards in 37 appearances in the Metro 1977 championship. He was El Gráfico’s highest rated player with an average score of 7,16 and included in the ideal team of the season for the second consecutive year. In a wide open tournament it will remain a mystery how far the team could have gone had he been available in those 9 league games that he missed, where the club only won 2 of those games. Finally, had there ever been a better performer at the age of 17 across any professional league throughout history ? Certainly in Argentina there was not.
Toward the end of the Metropolitan 1978 campaign, El Gráfico’s columnist, Julio César Pasquato, better known for the pseudonym of Juvenal, headlined in 1978: “Maradona the new Sivori ?” This was a serious review to understand what Maradona could become in the grand scope of things. In 1978 Diego was jammed in between two paths: to reach either the heights of Sivori and become a legend or disappear into the mediocrity like so many promising stars that became one-hit wonders. Sivori was a prodigious footballer that started to make headlines in the mid 1950s at River Plate. He was a skilled left footer, with similar characteristics to Diego. Intelligent, with a strong personality, but stubborn, just like Maradona. Sivori turned iconic once he moved to Europe to play for Juventus, where he became a Ballon d’Or winner in 1961 in the era of Di Stefano and Puskas. In that same year, Italy’s legendary player, Giuseppe Meazza, considered perhaps the greatest Italian of all-time, voiced his opinion about Sivori. Published in Gazzetta dello Sport and then translated by El Gráfico in February 1961, Meazza stated that Sivori had been the best genius that South America had sent since the post-war to play on Italian fields. By 1978 the footballing world still respected this number 10 talent. With the exception of Sivori, who went on to become a star and not just a promise, like other talents who fell to waste or simply couldn’t live up to their potential and suffered many ups and downs, as was the cases with Ermindo Onega, Angel Rojas or Norberto Madurga, players of the previous epoch that either lacked consistency, temperament, discipline or ambition to want to get better. In the contemporary era of Maradona, where it was easier to draw direct comparisons with number 10 playmakers likes Zanabria, Alonso, Bochini, Kempes and Valencia, Mr Juvenal compared each of them with Diego and made the compelling argument that it would depend on Maradona on how far he was willing to go. He had the potential to become a Sivori, Di Stefano, Pelé and Cruijff or disappear into obscurity like many before him. Brief comparisons Maradona- Alonso Alonso has the better physique, is long and lanky like Cruijff. It’s possible he has better natural attributes than Diego. On the other hand Maradona beats him in other aspects: shielding the ball, physical presence and mental psychic to handle rough defending and a better sense of doing the simple with the easy. Because where Alonso complicates things, Maradona’s simplicity to resolve plays characterizes the truly great players. For Alonso everything is easy thanks to being blessed with the ideal natural physique. For Diego some things are naturally easier while others are not. Maradona is used to having to fight since he plays for an underdog like Argentinos Juniors. This challenge to overcome obstacles puts him constantly under the pressure to prevail, testing his strength and will of character. Maradona-Bochini Although Bochini has games that are brilliant and it’s hard to take the ball away from him, Maradona appears to have a better variety of abilities. Because he can dribble his way forward winning meters while accelerating, just like Bochini, but he has a better shot. He can produce the pass on the run or make the shot on the march at full speed. In other words, he doesn’t need to step-side the defender in order to adjust to make the pass or shot and doesn’t need much room to resolve a play with passes of 3 meters of distance or 40 or shooting on goal. In terms of conception of reading the game, by playing and making others around play, they are even. Maradona-Zanabria Zanabria beats him physically, as he’s longer and has already established himself in different clubs over his career. Zanabria also has become a complete attacker over the years. However, there’s an aspect that you can’t improve over time and it’s called “personality”, that intangible quality is where Maradona beats him. Maradona-Valencia They are about equal technically and football-wise. But Maradona has more personality and reveals more ambition. He aspires for more, he’s not a conformist, he wants to improve just like Sivori, he has the hunger to want to reach the next level. Maradona-Kempes Logically Kempes wins. He is already a great player. An established player in Argentina and Europe. The best player at the last World Cup. Kempes has more physical potency and that capacity to cover more ground, like Antonio Sastre, Di Stefano or Pedernera had. Maradona is only a projected great player. He beats Kempes in the short game, in reduced spaces. He hits the ball well but not with the power and certainty of Kempes. And he’s missing what Kempes has: the total and complete coronation. Kempes is a made guy, a world champ. The future of Maradona We must remember Diego had just turned 18 years old. He had the potential to stay at the level of his contemporaries, fade away like many before him, or reach the heights of the immortals. Self dedication, the desire to strive to better himself, and to have the professionalism of previous greats, would be the key to immortality.
For Diego, his next test would be to help the Argentinian youth team qualify to the FIFA Youth World Cup in Japan 1979. This was Argentina’s FA and Cesar Menotti’s primary objective. In order to prepare for the South American qualifiers in January 1979, Maradona would feature in only 4 National league games towards the end of 1978, virtually sacrificing that mini tournament in return for the youth NT preparation. And in order to prepare, the Argentinian FA scheduled various friendlies, one of them a date against the NY Cosmos of Franz Beckenbauer and Chinaglia, which would be held in Tucumán, a northern province in Argentina. Maradona vs Beckenbauer coming up! Stay tuned...
Friendly 03/11/1978 Youth Argentina NT 2-1 NY Cosmos Stadium: Tucumán, Argentina Match details Goals: [Maradona 5, Barrera 18; G.Chinaglia 54] Argentina Youth: García; Barbas, J.Simón, Rossi, H.Alves; Mezza, Rinaldi, D.Maradona; Escudero, Barrera, R.Díaz. Coach: C.Menotti. New York Cosmos: J.Brand; Carlos Alberto, F.Beckenbauer, R.Iarusi, S.Formoso; T.Garbet, V.Dimitrijevik, R.Davis; Seninho, G.Chinaglia, G.Etherington. Coach: R.Klivecka. Red Card: Carlos Alberto 38. Maradona vs Franz Beckenbauer Although the NY cosmos had other quality players, like Chinaglia and Carlos Alberto, who would get sent off, the two captains were the main attractions in this contest. The Argentinian youth team now had Maradona as their armband leader and the world footballing future was in his hands. Franz Beckenbauer was in the twilight of his career and would hang up his boots after 1982 to manage the West German NT. This was not the last time these two iconic players would meet, since they would battle it out in two consecutive World Cup finals as player vs trainer. This match was a good test to see where the youth NT was at in preparation for the qualifiers held in Uruguay. El Gráfico headlined: “Lets take care of these kids” (....) What they produced in the first twenty minutes of the game was unforgettable. They smashed the brands, gathered across the field, worked like clockwork, unleashed a football storm, scored two goals and got there just three more times. It was impossible to maintain that pace and that level. Something like the one that the Senior National Team had in the pre-78 World Cup stage. That performance could only be sustained by a gifted player like Maradona.” Maradona opened the scoring with a perfect free kick and then after beating 3 defenders from a run that started at the halfway line, set up a cross for the second. Chinaglia scored the consolation goal for the visiting side. Diego’s free kick Poor Ricky Davies, the defender of the Cosmos, who many years later said he couldn’t contain Diego, was simply outclassed. Menotti after the match said this about Maradona: “He’s something serious. He does things that Pelé used to do in his beginning. A true phenomenon”. Later Beckenbauer would say, “Pelé was the best player I ever saw (...) You guys are hopeful of Maradona but I can’t consider him. Of course he has qualities, that’s unquestionable, one can see his talents are not common, but he’s only 18... We still don’t know how he will confront the challenges in the next 2 years in life, as a man and as player. Now the fame, the money, the people that depend on him. What will happen to Maradona ? I think it can be, but let’s not talk about Pelé...” Summary: 1 goal (free kick), 1 assist http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nycosmos-argtrip78.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.co...iudadela-maradona-versus-beckenbauer.html/amp
The National Championship 1978 As previously mentioned, Maradona would only take part of 4 league matches of the 14 group stage games of the National Championship. AJ were pitted in group C with Independiente, Gimnasia Y Esgrima (LP), Alto Hornos Zapla (Juyjuy), Vélez Sarsfield, Racing (Córdoba), Rosario Central, Deportivo Roca (Rio Negro). The tournament ran from November 1978 to January 1979. The format was similar to the previous year, with 4 groups of 8 teams each, but this time the best two of each group would advance to a quarterfinal knockout stage of home/away playoffs. Suffice to say, AJ would do poorly with Maradona missing 10 games.