After much dwelling, the Argentine Football Association confirmed that Carlos Salvador Bilardo will substitute Maradona at the World Cup draw to be held tomorrow in Cape Town.
Humberto Grondona (Julio’s son) was in charge of breaking the news that will sure spark a controversy as it is known that Maradona and Bilardo have grown apart. Bilardo had even said that by no means he would attend the draw. “If Maradona doesn’t go, I don’t go,” had said the coach.
Argentina will finally lead the series along with South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany and England. And it will be first in the groups with them.
Their rivals will come from groups 2 comprised of Oceania, Asia or Concacaf, 3, from Africa, and 4, from the European teams.
France, which was withdrawn in the last minute from the leading group due to its doubtful qualification – due to Henry’s hand goal against Ireland -, Portugal, Cameroon and Mexico are potential rivals that no one wants to have in their groups.
From 2.15pm tomorrow, the sports world will be expectant to see what happens in the South African capital. If Argentina has reasons to worry (in the past draws it always resulted in disadvantage), it should worry more about the performance in the field than on luck of these events.
