WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : ARGENTINES STAND THEIR MAN
Their World Cup dreams shattered, Argentines cried with Diego Maradona on Friday, spinning endless theories as to why he wrecked his career and their chances in a cocktail of illicit drugs.
In a country where the rules are often brushed aside with a wink and a nod, Maradona’s version of events--that he inadvertently took a combination of over-the-counter medicines--struck a chord with his fellow citizens.
“We Argentines break the rules. It’s a way of life,” said Bernardo Neustadt, Argentina’s best-known journalist and a friend of President Carlos Menem.
“Ours is a country in which it’s the speculators who win, a country that violated its own constitution every time it felt like it, a country that breached its international commitments.
“Yesterday Argentina paid with Maradona (for) a way of life, of not heeding the law.”
“You know what’s happening?” a banker in Buenos Aires asked a local journalist. “Everything is being lined up so Brazil can win.”
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