God the Father, God the Son - Part 2: Maradona, Messi and Argentina at the 2010 World Cup

God the Father, God the Son - Part 2: Maradona, Messi and Argentina at the 2010 World Cup

From World Cup Rambling by Matthew Okot

November 1, 2025 · 54 min · Season 5 · Episode 7

About this episode

The episode reviews Argentina's performance in the 2010 World Cup under Maradona's management, highlighting Messi's struggles and the team's eventual downfall against Germany.

Following on from Maradona steering Argentina to the 2010 World Cup (just), we look back at how his team got on in South Africa. Although there were some notable absentees from the World Cup squad, Maradona had a highly-talented team, with some sparkling attacking players, most notably Lionel Messi. Argentina shone at times, winning their group with a 100% record and playing some of the most stylish football of the group stages. Maradona was his usual colourful self, providing great quotes for the press. Yet, Messi’s inability to get on the scoresheet, doubts about the midfield balance and doubts about the defence, would all come together in a disastrous quarter-final against Germany. The limitations of Maradona’s management were brutally exposed and the attitude of Argentinian fans towards Messi would go from indifferent to outright distaste. Argentina National Anthem is from https://nationalanthems.info/ TWITTER/X @MatthewOkot @WorldCupRamble Subscribe to World Cup Rambling on your podcast platform.

People in this episode

Host: Matthew Okot

Topics covered

  • 2010 World Cup
  • Maradona
  • Lionel Messi
  • Argentina soccer
  • quarter-final
  • football management

Keywords

  • Maradona
  • Messi
  • Argentina
  • 2010 World Cup
  • soccer
  • quarter-final
  • football

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Argentina National Anthem

Places: Argentina, South Africa

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