Maradona ”hospitalised after dog bite”
BUENOS AIRES: Argentina coach Diego Maradona has been hospitalised after one of his dogs bit him while he was playing with the animal at home, TV reports said.
One report said that the 49-year-old former footballing great had been bitten on his upper lip and would need a minor operation to repair the wound.
Sources at the Los Arcos private clinic, where Maradona spent several weeks in 2007 for treatment after developing serious health problems, confirmed that he had been admitted, but would not say what the problem was.
After retiring from the game in 1997 when he was 37, Maradona has had several health problems related to his weight and drug and alcohol addictions.
But he was made Argentina head coach in November 2008 and, despite a poor start to his tenure, succeeded in qualifying his country for the World Cup in South Africa.
Fifa Open Maradona investigation
Fifa has opened an investigation into Argentina coach Diego Maradona’s profanity-filled tirade on live television following a World Cup qualifying win over Uruguay.
Fifa spokesman Nicolas Maingot said Wednesday: “The disciplinary case has been opened. We have no further details for the moment.”
After the win, which earned Argentina a spot at next year’s World Cup in South Africa, Maradona directed crude expletives at his media critics. Maradona called it an outburst and said he had nothing to apologize for.
Fifa Open Maradona investigation was first posted on October 22, 2009 at 1:05 pm.
Fifa will investigates Maradona tirade
LONDON : Maradona’s outburst was broadcast live on television. Argentina coach Diego Maradona is to be investigated by Fifa following his furious outburst after the World Cup victory in Uruguay on Wednesday.
Maradona delivered an expletive-laden tirade, broadcast on live TV, that was directed at reporters and critics after his side qualified for the 2010 finals.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said there was “no alternative” but to ask Fifa’s disciplinary committee to open a case.
Maradona, 48, could be banned for a minimum of five matches and fined.
However, the head of the Argentine Football Federation, Julio Grondona, claimed: “If it were another coach or player, the matter would not have had such importance.
“Everybody knows he’s a temperamental person and he’s already said he won’t speak like that again.”
But Maradona has refused to apologise to the press for his actions in interviews on Argentine radio and television.
“I don’t have to apologise,” he told Radio Continental on Thursday. “All I was doing was reacting to all those people who have spoken out against me. That’s as far as it goes.
“I’m not going to perform a U-turn. Everyone knows what has been said. It seems to me that a lot of journalists wanted the national team not to qualify for the World Cup finals.
“For me, that’s anti-Argentine and is something I can’t forgive.”
On Friday he told TyC Sports television: “I apologise to women, to my mother, to Argentinian women, to Uruguayan women and to women throughout the world. But only to them, not the others.”
Fifa is understood to be investigating whether Maradona’s comments breach Article 58 of the organisation’s disciplinary code.
Even people who hate Maradona would have to admit he makes things interesting in his own inimitable way
Maradona is a football icon in Argentina following his success as a player but his time as the national team’s coach has been hugely controversial, with Argentina having struggled to reach the 2010 finals in South Africa.Live Scores Soccer
As a player he produced a series of stellar displays to guide them to victory in the 1986 World Cup and then helped them reach the final, which they lost to Germany, four years later.
But his time as coach has included a 6-1 defeat in Bolivia and a 3-1 home loss to Brazil and the fans had feared they might not make it to South Africa.
Going into the final two qualifying matches a poll showed that the majority of Argentina fans thought Maradona was unfit to coach the national team, but in the end Argentina won both games to book their ticket to South Africa.
They were both were scrappy victories requiring late goals, although a draw in their final game against Uruguay would have been enough to earn a spot at the finals.fifa fifa world cup football europe
Fifa will investigates Maradona tirade was first posted on October 17, 2009 at 12:42 pm.
