Diego Maradona Praises Mexican National Team’s Performances In World Cup, Says They Can Beat Sweden

Soccer legend Diego Maradona said in an interview last week that he is a fan of Mexico’s national team after two victories it has secured in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Maradona Says He Supports Mexico In World Cup 2018

“I am a supporter [of Mexico] already because they made this first round great. Mexico have shown that they could be able to beat Sweden, that they have the condition,” the 57-year-old Argentine told Venezuelan TV channel Telesur on his show “De la Mano del 10.”

Mexico stunned fans at the World Cup last week by defeating reigning champions Germany 1-0 in their opening game. El Tri, led by coach Juan Carlos Osorio, then beat South Korea 2-1 on Saturday for its second matchup and leads Group F with six points.

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Maradona went on to explain that with is win over South Korea, Mexico proved that their victory against Germany did not happen because of luck. He said Osorio’s squad played aggressively from the very beginning of the contest.

Mexico next face Sweden on Wednesday at 10am EST, and the game will be a tough challenge, although evidently Maradona thinks El Tri won’t have much trouble winning that game. Sweden fell 2-1 to Germany on Saturday after leading 1-0 at halftime, and beat South Korea 1-0 in its opener.

Mexico have reached the round of 16 for the last six World Cups. Should Sweden defeat the Latin American team on Wednesday and Germany beats South Korea, Mexico, Sweden and Germany would all finish with six points (and South Korea 0) each and tiebreakers/goal differentials would determine which two teams advance to the second round.

Sweden last reached the round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup.

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According to ESPN, Maradona also recently said Mexico did not deserve to host a World Cup, a comment that came after FIFA announced two weeks ago that the country would co-host the 2026 tournament with the United States and Canada.

The Argentine cited Mexico’s long-standing lack of success in the World Cup as a reason for his remarks, and used a similar argument about the U.S., whose federation and media he claimed lacked enough “passion.”

“I don’t like it,” Maradona told Telesur of the choice of hosts for the 2026 tournament. “Mexico doesn’t deserve it. The Mexicans come up against Brazil or Germany… and ‘boom,’ they’re out.”

Maradona also reminded fans of a proposal made in 1994, when the U.S. hosted the World Cup. Then-FIFA president Joao Havelange suggested games be divided into four quarters instead of two halves in order for games to include more television advertisements.

“There’s no passion,” Maradona said. “The Canadians may be good skiers, and the Americans wanted to have four periods of 25 [minutes] for the advertising.”