Maradona Vietnam's Soccer Coach? April Fools
HANOI - Vietnam's passionate soccer fans got a jolt Wednesday when a popular
newspaper splashed a picture of Diego Maradona on its front page and said he would be the new national coach.
However, after leading avid readers through a lengthy story on why the mercurial former captain of the Argentine football squad wanted to coach Vietnam's struggling national team, the Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper said it was all an April Fools' joke.
``I'm doing this not for money, simply for football,'' it pretended to quote Maradona as saying.
``I choose Vietnam because ... the people are very brave in fighting and this is an important quality in playing soccer.''
This could have been a reference to several recent soccer matches in Vietnam, which have erupted in clashes between rival fans.
Vietnam is seeking a new national soccer coach after Britain's Colin Murphy apparently abandoned the team in January. Murphy is now Youth Academy director of Tottenham Hotspur in Britain.
REUTERS - April 1st 1998.
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