Trainee recalls vivid memories with Maradona

By V. Sankara

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 24  -- Luis Pablo Pozzuto, who was coached by legendary Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona in 1994, shared some of the memorable moments he had with the renowned player.

The 53-year-old fellow Argentinian footballer said he could vividly remember those times which began during the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Japan in September the same year.

"My generation in Argentina grew up with this guy (Maradona) and have watched him play in the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan. I was 11 years old back then and we wake up at 3am to see the games where the television was black and white. When we see him play, we dream - wanting to be like him," he told Bernama in an exclusive interview, recently.

The former Kelantan (1997-98) and Penang player (2001-03) said his personal relationship with Maradona started when he was involved in first division teams in Argentina in 1994.

Pozzuto, who is the current head coach of Kuala Lumpur Youth Soccer, a well-known club for children from all around the world, said Maradona coached him in 1994 when he (Pozzuto) signed for Deportivo Mandiyu in the Argentine Primera Division, where he made twenty-four appearances and scored three goals.

Club Deportivo Mandiyu, also referred to as Mandiyu, is an Argentine football club – based in Corrientes, in the Province of the same name.

Pozzuto said Maradona had helped many players economically and emotionally during the peak of his career especially Pedro Damian Monzon, an Argentine football coach and former footballer who played as a defender.

"Pedro Monzon, who had played in the 1990 World Cup, was once depressed and no one knew about it; and when Diego found out about it, he went straight to his house and helped him economically and emotionally.

“Nobody knew about this until Monzon spoke to the press about it recently," he said, adding he last met Maradona in Malaysia way back in 2015 after a gap of almost 25 years when the icon was here for the opening of his Boby & Maradona Gold Diamond outlet in NU Sentral, Brickfields.

Pozzuto, who described the star player as a golden boy without internet, said there was no internet when everyone saw the legend on television at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Back in 1982, Maradona wowed 25,000 at the Merdeka Stadium in a friendly match between Selangor Invitation and Boca Juniors.

After four years, he captained Argentina's national team and inspired his teammates to succeed in the 1986 World Cup, winning the final against West Germany.

But it was the quarter-final with England which remains an astonishing moment in his career – the ‘Hand of God’.

In the unforgettable World Cup quarter-final, Maradona displayed a stunning solo effort and dribbled past a number of defenders to score what has gone down in history as the 'goal of the century' – four minutes after his notorious ‘Hand of God’ goal in the game.

Maradona died on Nov 25 due to cardiorespiratory arrest at his home in the Tigre district on the northern outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires.

The former star player and coach, most recently of the Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata football team, underwent surgery following a stroke in early November.

On October 30, Maradona celebrated his 60th birthday.

As far as Pozzuto is concerned, Maradona is always down-to-earth and approachable.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are a player from the first division, or you are (Dutch football manager) Ruud Gullit or a boy playing in Malaysia, he will talk to you the same way."

-- BERNAMA