Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 21 10/08/1977 Ferro Carril Oeste 2-2 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Ferro Carril Oeste Field condition: good In an entertaining spectacle, where Ferro controlled around 70 minutes the match, La Nación headlined: “Ferro and Argentinos in an excellent game” “In the first half the superior technical and strategic game of Argentinos had its origin based on the good work of Maradona. He operated as a 4th forward, positioned on the right wing and then onto the left flank, based on the dynamic of his game, and his ingenuity of unlocking himself. This resulted very difficult in shutting him down.” Maradona from that left wing set up the first goal with a precise cross that was headed in by Fren. El Gráfico wrote, “Argentinos, suffocated in their half, knew how to take advantage with Maradona operating on the left flank in order to organize themselves (...)” El Gráfico rated Maradona with a good performance with a 7 and Goles graded Maradona with an acceptable 6. Summary: 1 assist
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 22 14/08/1977 Argentinos Juniors 0-0 Temperley Stadium: La Paternal, Argentinos Field condition: regular In a discrete spectacle, Temperley survived the attacks orchestrated by Maradona and company with the good goalkeeping display from Guibaudo, according to El Gráfico. Maradona was El Gráfico’s man of the match, with a good grade of a 7. Goles rated him with an acceptable 6, where it said he was tightly marked and unable to assert himself, but once hit the post with a fine shot. La Nación wrote, “Maradona also did not play like he usually does, with the exception of 3 or 4 astute chances (...)” For La Nación, Argentinos Juniors front men, like Alvarez and Giordano also failed to provide the necessary spark. Only Lopez stood out.
Halfway through the season, El Gráfico chose the “Golazo” of the tournament thus far, and it was awarded to Maradona vs Huracán in the 19th round, when Diego from the halfway line left various players in his wake before he rounded the goalkeeper and shot between the legs of Carrascosa, Argentina’s NT captain.
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 23 17/08/1977 Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) 0-0 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Gimnasia y Esgrima Field condition: good The home side, with Antonio Ubaldo Rattín as their manager, held Argentinos to a draw. It was a poor spectacle, where El Gráfico criticized both teams and the poor officiating that failed to spot a penalty in favor of the local team, but overall neither side deserved to win. In their words, it was “a zero in everything.” Maradona was marked out the game by the effective job of his marker Veron, and El Gráfico rated Diego with a poor grade of a 5. La Nación said: “It was disappointing. No one provided anything. There was no order, there was a lack of clarity and the emotion was absent.”
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 24 21/08/1977 Quilmes 2-2 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Quilmes Field condition: terrible In an intense game, Argentinos managed a draw with Maradona being awarded man of the match by El Gráfico with a good grade of a 7. Diego scored 1 goal from the free kick and his game grew in the second half, where La Nación wrote, “appeared Maradona and during a quarter of an hour Argentinos were able to impose the baggage of their rich football.” Argentinos also were denied a penalty, according to La Nación. Summary: 1 goal (free kick)
José Félix Bogado Cup (Friendly) 24/08/1977 Argentina 2-1 Paraguay Stadium: La Bombonera, Buenos Aires In Maradona’s second senior NT appearance, he came off the bench in the 60th minute in replacement of Villa. Argentina were already ahead by a goal and the local fans chanted for the youngster to enter with what would become the famous “Maradoooooo......Maradoooooo”. El Gráfico headlined: “A match was won, but an image was lost” Argentina did not play well, various players disappointed, with the fans claiming for the arrival of the precocious prodigy, chanting Maradona’s name. El Gráfico wrote, “Diego Maradona. Claimed by the fans, included by Menotti in the second half. Confirmed his conditions. He continues as an excellent possibility” “Maradona had to support the weight of the demands of the fans and arrived when Argentina were going through a bad period. He was able to overcome that adversity with skill and daring. Maradona continues to be a great possibility, fundamentally to speed up the rhythm when things are slow.” La Nación wrote, “Then Maradona entered, surely with the job of collaborating with Bertoni on the left wing, but the replacement of Villa looked excessively skilled — besides he was fouled too many times — and his job did not reach the importance that was expected”. Goles interviewed some of the players, in particular Villa, who was booed by the home fans, and Villa was asked why did he think that the people called for the entrance of Maradona, and Villa said this: “Because Maradona is going through a good period in football. All the opposite with me.” Goles reported that Maradona’s entrance was demanded by the fans from the beginning. Menotti opted to use a formation of a 4-2-4 with Maradona’s arrival in order to get the best out of the creative and offensive capacities of Diego and Goles observed: “But it did not work. Only flashes of false mirage of the mobility and daring of the kid of Argentinos. That he is going to be a good player — or even more than that — but he accelerated more than what was necessary...”
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 25 28/08/1977 Argentinos Juniors 0-1 Platense Stadium: La Paternal, Argentinos Juniors Field condition: poor El Gráfico wrote, “With the defensive pressure of Niro over Maradona and alternating with Peremateu and Belloni over Alvarez, Platense was able to cancel out the two most gravitating values” El Gráfico graded Maradona with an acceptable 6. Goles was more harsh, with the team of Argentinos Juniors all graded low, with a very poor grade of a 4 for Diego in what was arguably his weakest game in the season thus far. Goles stated it was an intense game that deserved a draw, with Maradona’s marker, Niro, as a “stamp” on Diego’s back. La Nación wrote, “With an organized defense, and a vanguard that was quick, Platense complicated the home team (...) the effective job of Niro over Maradona and the great game of Peremateu over Alvarez, the visiting side cut all offensive attempts from the home team.” Maradona’s best and only contribution was when he struck the post from a free kick.
José Félix Bogado Cup (Friendly) 31/08/1977 Paraguay 2-0 Argentina (Paraguay won 3-1 on PKs) Stadium: Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay Field condition: terrible La Nación headlined: “Messy work from Argentina” El Gráfico was concerned with the defeat, with Menotti stating that the team had to learn to take these teams like Paraguay with the same seriousness as with a nation like the Netherlands. Maradona went unnoticed and in the penalty shootout, he was along with Olguin and Killer, three Argentinians that had their penalty kicks saved. World Cup 1978 was around the corner and it was still uncertain if Maradona was going to be included in the final 22-man roster.
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 26 04/09/1977 Chacarita 2-2 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Chacarita Field condition: terrible El Gráfico wrote, “Despite a terrible pitch, both sides attempted to play with criteria (...) Inside that tone, Argentinos showed to be more precise. Aided by the talented left foot of Maradona, and the rotation of Alvarez and the display of Fren (...) Maradona was rated with a good grade of a 7. La Nación stated it was an interesting match, with Maradona given little space, where in a rare occasion was able to escape his markers and score a goal. Summary: 1 goal
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 27 07/09/1977 Argentinos Juniors 1-1 Racing Stadium: La Paternal, Argentinos Juniors Field condition: Poor In an acceptable match, Racing with varios NT players, like Villa, Killer and Alfio Basile as their manager, once again made it complicated for Argentinos. In their first league encounter Maradona had been marked out the game in that match, and that would repeat itself in this game. El Gráfico wrote, “Maradona shut down by Magalhaes (...)” with a poor grade of a 5 by this publication. La Nación said “Maradona tried to do a lot but achieved very little”. Maradona’s best contribution was probably when he came close to scoring but his shot struck the post. Racing, it was said, were the better team in this match.
For the month of August 1977, covering rounds from 20-25, El Gráfico ranked their top 11 players of that period, with Maradona included.
The next rounds Maradona would be unavailable due to injury. In round 28 his club lost by being thumped 5-0 by Newell’s Old Boys, Argentinos then received a bye in round 29, and then drew 0-0 against Union of Santa Fe in round 30. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/arg77.html
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 31 23/09/1977 Argentinos Juniors 1-2 River Plate Stadium: Huracán Field condition: regular Maradona made his return from injury after two weeks but clearly was not fit. It was his first encounter against River Plate in his senior career and it was individually a poor performance, with a grade of a 5 by El Gráfico. Maradona, suffering some brutal fouls, was canceled out the game by the defender Artico. River Plate, the best team in the season, boasting of NT team players and a legendary coach in Angel Labruna, were considered to be superior in every way, and despite its narrow scoreline, the actions on the pitch were not indicative of the final margin of only 1 goal.
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 32 25/09/1977 Argentinos Juniors 0-1 San Lorenzo Stadium: La Paternal, Argentinos Juniors Field condition: poor A few days later, another defeat for the ‘small market’ club, this time against another squad that had NT players, like Olguin and La Volpe. Argentinos Juniors played poorly in a poor match, with mostly all their players struggling, Maradona still getting back into game-shape from an injury, played poorly, received a grade of a 5 from El Gráfico.
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 33 28/09/1977 Velez Sarsfield 0-0 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Velez Sarsfield Field condition: Good Goles magazine wrote, “We started with justified reasons to grade Maradona with a 10. (...) The youngster moved around with “luxury” in the attack, in the personal or in the generosity. But he ran out of gas and then deserved a grade of a 4.” Finally Goles averaged it out and awarded Diego a good grade of a 7. El Gráfico didn’t comment on Maradona but graded him lowly with a 5. La Nación wrote that Argentinos, “conducted skillfully” by Maradona, approached the game conservatively, knowing that they had been in a drought of not winning in more than a month and needed to avoid another defeat. They managed a draw but dropped further down in the table. Maradona was still not fully fit and would miss the next round.
In round 34, with Maradona absent, his club got demolished at home 4-1 by lowly Banfield. It was another big defeat without its star player and the team kept crawling down close to the relegation zone.
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 35 05/10/1977 Estudiantes (LP) 1-1 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Estudiantes, La Plata Field condition: Good Diego made his return and salvaged a point on the road. El Gráfico wrote, “Maradona leveled the game in one instance of genius: two defenders and the goalkeeper were beaten with precision in the box, in a play of high calibre technique. That was the 1-1. (...) A spectacular scissor kick by Maradona left his teammate Lopez alone but he failed to score. But it would have been too much of a prize.” Diego was rated with a good grade of a 7. La Nación headlined that Estudiantes deserved the draw and that Maradona’s sporadic plays on the right flank leveled the actions in the midfield. Summary: 1 goal
Sorry for going off topic, but I just ran into this. As an Arsenal fan, I've never even heard of this before. Oh man, WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN!!!!
That occurred before the Falkland’s War, and story goes that once the two countries started to head into that devastating direction, talks bogged down and either Barcelona or Juventus were the next options on the table for acquiring his services.
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 36 09/10/1977 Argentinos Juniors 0-0 Lanús Stadium: La Paternal, Argentinos Juniors Field condition: Poor La Nación headlined: “Firm defending from Lanús; Argentinos, without ideas” La Nación “Match intense and balanced. Lanús started better, basing their game on a strict man-marking, reduced clarity in the initiative from the local side. Argentinos counted on the work from Fren and the glimpses of Maradona — when he was able to beat his marker Zárate — to get to the goal of Sanchez (...) Argentinos lacked offensive variations against a side that, in detriment to the spectacle, obtained their objective: a draw. El Gráfico stated that Fren and Maradona started the game by producing dangerous combination attacks, but in the second half the defensive strategy of Lanús clamped down with Moralejo, stifling Maradona. “Argentinos took on the weight of the game but the visiting side opposed with a solid defense and a counterattack that was always dangerous in the foots of Cardenas.” El Diego received a correct grade of a 6.
Metropolitan Championship 1977 Round 37 12/10/1977 Atlanta 0-1 Argentinos Juniors Stadium: Atlanta Field condition: regular La Nación headlined: “Argentinos and an unjustified victory” It was a poor affair, according to multiple sources, but for El Gráfico, Argentinos deservedly won with the lonely goal from Lopez in the final minutes. But for La Nación the visiting side did not deserve such a prize. Maradona, in one of his weakest matches in the season, was graded very low with a 4 by El Gráfico. For Argentinos, it was the first win in more than two months, and it pushed them out of the relegation zone. Next up would be a date against one of the strongest sides in the competition: Independiente.