When the hand of God ruled Argentina

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and when football teams reach crisis points, logic is often thrown out of the window.

Think Newcastle United appointing Alan Shearer, a man with no previous managerial experience, when mired in a relegation battle. Think Stuart Pearce, pining to lead Manchester City to the UEFA Cup, putting David James up front. Think Argentina, stuttering in qualification for the 2010 World Cup, turning to one Diego Armando Maradona to lead the nation once more to glory.

Often when an England manager leaves a post, you can guarantee at least one former icon will be backed to take over. The fact they have next to no managerial CV is put forward as a positive; they won’t overcomplicate things, they know what it’s like to represent the Three Lions and they know how a major tournament works.

The English FA have managed to resist that temptation to date, but their Argentinian counterparts instead chose to grasp the nettle back in 2008. Enter El Diego.

Looking back, Argentina weren’t even in too precarious a position when they turned to Maradona following the resignation of Alfio Basile. Only two of their opening 10 qualifiers had ended in defeat, and with the top four teams going straight through to the tournament, Argentina sat third, albeit only above Chile on goal difference.

Maradona’s previous experience as a manager had come over a decade earlier with shambolic, brief spells in charge of Mandiyu de Corrientes and Racing Club.

In the intervening years he had suffered with a myriad of health issues, almost dying due to a heart problem in 2004. In 2007, he was hospitalised again and entered another period of rehab. A year later, he was Argentina manager.

Blind faith may never be the best strategy in football, but the supremos at the Argentinian FA hoped Maradona would have a galvanising effect on a talented-yet-dysfunctional squad. Whether that was wise or not doesn’t concern us here, because it was at least incredibly entertaining.

A 4-0 win over Venezuela in his first qualifier was an encouraging start, but in the next match Argentina were beaten 6-1 in Bolivia. Played 3,600 metres above sea level, it was suggested the hand of God had finally been given the chance to give Maradona a little slap.

Despite three more defeats in qualifying, as well as call-ups for 70 different players, La Albiceleste somehow secured their place in South Africa thanks to wins against Peru and Uruguay in their final two fixtures –…