Maradona and His Outlandish Statements about Pakistani football – Let’s just say he’s better-off on the pitch.

What does Maradona know about Pakistan’s footballing abilities? Apparently, nothing much. The only knowledge that he might possess is that Pakistan hasn’t featured at a World Cup. He stated that his team is just like Pakistani football team after a devastating loss from Croatia last night.

This gradually leads to his comparison of the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) with the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF). He apparently implied that his country’s federation is as incompetent.

Maradona condemned the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) and those in charge, by saying that they only understood football as much as Pakistan did. His absurd accusations were meant to tarnish the image of Pakistan football, as it would seem; Furthermore, this isn’t the first time that Pakistan has been a target to these accusations led by Maradona.

An icon in the footballing world, Maradona had a fallout with the President of the Argentinian Football Association, Julio Grondona, along with Carlos Bilardo, the Director of the national team, claiming that both Bilardo and Grondona had laid him off.

Four years later, further backlashing was not surprising, since the 1986 World Cup Winner wanted to be the coach of the Argentinian national team in the upcoming World Cup hosted by Brazil. He openly accused the AFA by stating that it had the audacity to play dirty tricks on him and claimed that he deserved to be Argentina’s coach at 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The former World Cup Winner still hadn’t buried the hatchet with his former employers, nor did he forgive the AFA, and instead compared them to PFA, who are currently ranked 198^th in the world. He indicted the association leaders of not knowing how to carry out their responsibilities.

It is easy to speculate and be an armchair critic suggesting that football hasn’t grown in Pakistan, but there is a lot that has been going on in the favor of PFA.

For the last ten years, PFA has been led by Faisal Saleh Hayat, who has been running the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) as well. There is not a single season that has been missed in the last decade, despite the shortage of funds.

In addition, KRL (Khan Research Laboratories) have been the undefeated champions for the last three years. They were the first club team to reach the finals of the AFC competition – Asia’s version of the Europa League.

Apart from organizing the league, a large part of PFA’s focus is on women’s and youth football.

Despite the internal mayhem, political unrest in the country, and most of all, lack of sponsorship for a majority of its tournaments, PFA continues to rise above all its hurdles.

The basic truth, however, lies in how football in a country cannot prosper until and unless the local football fans become fans of Pakistan football.

And as for Maradona, Argentina still qualified for the 2014 World Cup under the leadership of Alejandro Sabella. What can I say…it’s a classic case of sour grapes!