The city of Culiacan in the Mexican state of Sinaloa is arguably one of the most dangerous places in Mexico.
Home for the infamous & violent drug “Sinaloa Cartel”, Culiacan is a place where sports is one of the few options for local residents to escape from the violence. Mainly a baseball city, Culiacan is also the home of “Dorados de Sinaloa” (Goldfish of Sinaloa), the local football club. In the past, the club was a regular in the top division, with famous coaches and international players as Sebastian Abreu and even Pep Guardiola.
Like the state of the city, the club has lost its golden days and now plays most of the time in the second league. Not only that, the club has become a subsidiary to top league club Xolos de Tijuana, where the northern border club uses the Sinaloan club as a farm team for youth and undesired players.
The target of the fish club was declared to be a promotion to the first league, and in Mexico, where half of the Second league clubs aren’t entitled to promote due to insufficient financial resources or lack of minimal requirement football infrastructure, Sinaloa can and should achieve the promotion.
However, the reality is a bit different. Sinaloa opened the season badly and after 6 games, the team didn't win yet in the current campaign. 3 draws and 3 losses were enough for the management of the team, and they have decided to make a change in the Managerial position. Oh boy, what a change it was.
Diego Armando Maradona, One of the greatest players ever, has arrived at the coastal province as the new coach. Well, you can all guess what happened after the announcement. From a second league club known only in Mexico, Dorados became a bit more famous. Press from all over the world, who usually barely give attention to Mexican football, has published articles about the club.
No doubt about that. Maradona is one of the greatest PR machines out there, and no one can take it from him. However, in contrary to his playing career, Maradona’s coaching career is quite the opposite. Yes, his status as a semi-god in his native Argentina got him the national team, but apart from that, Maradona gives the impression that he will agree to manage wherever he will get paid enough, and it doesn’t really matter where and what the level of the football there. Very similar to his personal life, Maradona is not a professional in football, but as we mentioned before, he is a PR status. Criticized for getting paid by the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro for his “whitewashing” services of the murderous regime in Venezuela. Many of the club fans are standing against his appointment, as they are claiming it to be a cover for the problems and not real solutions to the club. There is another issue with Maradona: he was appointed several months ago to a position in Belarus and is supposedly under a legal obligation there.
Maradona himself arrived in Mexico, the place where he won his greatest achievement as a player, the 1986 World Cup. He immediately declared that his target is to win the promotion. However, the real question is: is it another PR stunt to earn some money, or will Maradona finally will be able to focus on football?
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