• Chechen leader eclipses soccer stars with hat-trick

    Soccer legend Diego Maradona took to the field Wednesday to captain a team of retired superstars in a ceremonial match to mark the opening of a new stadium in Chechnya.

    AFP - Getty Images

    Football legend Diego Maradona, right, fights for the ball against Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov, left, during a demonstration soccer match between Maradona's all-star squad of former internationals and a team of local officials and players in Grozny, Chechnya, on May 11.

    The 50-year-old Argentine icon was joined by Luis Figo, Steve McManaman, Franco Baresi and other former stars of the game. But they were all outshone by Ramzan Kadyrov, the feared political leader of the volatile Russian republic, who scored a hat-trick at the stadium dedicated to his father and predecessor, who was assassinated in 2004.

    The hosts won 5-2 in an often comical match that featured out-of-shape players and sportingly inept officials. The thousands of local fans who turned out in the rain were treated to one moment of Maradona magic, however, when the 1986 World Cup winner knocked in a free kick from the edge of the penalty area.

    S. Dal / Reuters

    A light show before the match marking the opening of the new Akhmad-Hajji Kadyrov stadium in the Chechen capital Grozny on May 11.

    In March, members of Brazil's 1994 and 2002 World Cup-winning teams, including Romario, also played an exhibition match in Grozny.

    Officials have denied paying players to attend, but it has been difficult to otherwise explain the willingness of so many of the world's greatest soccer names to show up in a part of the world seldom associated with the game.

    Eduard Korniyenko / Reuters

    Ramzan Kadyrov, left, shares a joke with Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona during the match.

    Their appearance has the double advantage of demonstrating Chechnya's worthiness as a venue to showcase such talent. Russia will host the World Cup for the first time in 2018.

    The stadium was christened in style Wednesday with an extravagant laser and fireworks opening ceremony. Banners bearing the slogan "Russia-2018" were draped around the tribunes. A video screened before the match praised Chechnya as a modern-day investment haven, with the horrors of two separatist wars in the past 16 years consigned firmly to the past.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

    Comment

    Show more
    Explore related topics: , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Alfredo Tedeschi / Reuters - Corbis file

    Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona smokes a Cohiba cigar as he rides a sail boat in waters off Havana on April 8, 2000. Maradona had been in Cuba since January on a rehabilitation program to try to kick the cocaine habit that almost cost him his life at the beginning of the year.

    From the archive: At 5'5", Maradona is still larger than life

    As Argentina prepares to play Germany, I'm wondering what emotional pyrotechnics may be in store from Argentine soccer coach Diego Maradona. He's always been a character, and he's been true to form in South Africa: His emotional leadership has been an exciting part of the 2010 World Cup.

    For many football fans, the moment that comes to mind when Maradona's name comes up is his 1986 "Hand of God" goal against England, described and shown in detail here. I'm far more prone to think of the picture above, which does a great job of encapsulating some of the challenges Maradona has faced off of the pitch, and of the gamewinning 'Goal of the Century' from the same 1986 World Cup match against England, a video clip that sends chills up my spine every time I see it, even if I watch it ten times in quick succession: