– Argentine football legend Diego
Maradona said compatriot Lionel Messi did
not deserve to be named best player of
the World Cup, arguing it should have
gone to Colombia’s James Rodriguez.
“I’d give Lio the sky, but when it’s not
deserved and it’s just marketers who want
to make him win something he didn’t win,
it’s unfair,” Maradona said Sunday after
Argentina lost the World Cup final to
Germany 1-0.
“Rodriguez was the best player of the
World Cup,” said Maradona on his TV
program “De Zurda,” which is broadcast
by Venezuelan network Telesur and
retransmitted in several Latin American
countries.
The 23-year-old Rodriguez was the
revelation of the World Cup and the top
scorer with six goals.
Messi dazzled in the group stage with four
goals, but failed to score in his last four
games, including the final.
Maradona said Messi himself did not seem
to feel he deserved the trophy.
“It looked like he didn’t want to take it,” he
said.
But Maradona praised Argentina and said
the match could have gone either way.
“I’m sad about Mario Goetze’s (game-
winning) goal,” he said. “But we can’t
forget that we took this World Cup step by
step. If we had scored (Gonzalo) Higuain’s
(disallowed) goal we would be partying.
Germany were not dominant.”
Maradona, 53, was Messi’s childhood idol
and is his rival for the title of greatest-
ever Argentine footballer.
To many fans, the 27-year-old Barcelona
striker still needs to add a World Cup win
to his resume to match the greatness of
Maradona, who led his team to the title in
1986.