Diego Maradona: The Middle Finger of God?

March 5th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

The video above (spotted on DT) is of Diego Maradona’s press conference after his Argentina team beat Germany 1-0 in Munich. Don’t worry if you no hablo español, because the real focus here is Maradona’s body language. Is he just scratching a persistent itch? Or is he not so subtly giving the universally recognized gesture for “eff you” to his many many critics? Is there even any doubt?

You could say this is immature and inappropriate behaviour for a 49 year old international football coach, and you’d be right. But I’m choosing to see Maradona’s middle finger as a tantalizing preview of what promises to be an event-filled World Cup 2010.

International Football News – World Cup Blog RSS Feed

http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Please let Argentina advance as far as the semis, please let Argentina advance as far as the semis, please let…
http://australia.worldcupblog.org Luka

I hope their squad is decimated by injuries, suspensions and mysterious player disappearances. Why? I’m sure Diego won’t be able to resist including himself in the WC squad…To prove a point nobody is really making…aside from the people in his head. That “itch” he is “scratching” is just him trying to quieten the calls from them to “burn things.”
Hector

What an idiotic segment! The middle finger is only common in english (american english at that.) In south america, pointing, scratching, etc. with the middle finger is very normal, perhaps even more common than using the index finger. Finally, Maradona is the type of guy who if he wanted to show you the middle finger, he would do so unabashedly.

So maradona devises a good tactical system, defeating the #5 ranked german team and you still don’t realize he’s a good coach??

Get bent, it won’t matter when Maradona lifts his second world cup trophy in Johanesburg!
http://bayern.theoffside.com Luke

If you visit us over at the Bayern Offside, you can see the prelude to this, which won’t leave you with any doubt about what kind of hole Maradona is.
http://www.barnsley.theoffside.com Oli

Hehehe, Hector called Maradona a ‘good coach’.
Mario

There is no conspiracy whatsoever about DM using his middle finger to scracht his face. If anybody bothers to check a argentinian futbol channel (there are a lot) when a player is being interviewed, you will notice that this action (anything going on in the players’ face) is pretty common among them. One thing I have learned throughtout the years with Mr. diEGO Maradona is that he might not be the greatest soccer player of all time, but he has to said something to anybody, he really doesn’t give a damn about the consequences, HE JUST SAYS IT!
Johnny

I don’t believe Diego is flipping the bird.
However, it obvious by the facial grimaces at :15 and 1:09 that he’s left a surprise on his seat.
Seth

lolol Maradona is quiet the character <33

Plz let Argentina go all the way to the finals!
Gabriel “River Plate Te Amo!”

U gotta understand that us Argentinos have learned that we need to deal with Maradona being our coach at this time and we just need to support him and pray that he makes the right decisions. This win at Germany was a good start and we actually looked strong! VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!