Argentine football great Maradona went to the changing room after the match at the home of English Premier League side Leicester City to congratulate the Pumas and tell them that all of Argentina is following their progress.
“He told us that if we get to the semi-finals he will come (to see us again),” grinning Argentina captain Agustin Creevy said. “He took the number nine, 10 and two (Pumas) jerseys and gave us one of his. He told us that all of Argentina was dreaming with us, which is why he was here, why he wanted to be here.
“I never imagined he’d come to see us. For me he has always been the best of all; it was a very nice surprise.”
The number 10, worn by Maradona during his brilliant career with Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli and Argentina, was a key factor on Sunday as flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez turned in a man-of-the-match performance.
Sanchez scored a try and kicked 20 points to take his top scorer’s tally for the tournament to 51, six more than Japan fullback Ayumu Goromaru.
“What Nico is doing is what we know about him: he has a good foot, plays a good game,” coach Daniel Hourcade said.
The 26-year-old playmaker, in his prime and at his second World Cup, has learnt most of his test match rugby playing under Hourcade, first with the Pampas XV that played in South Africa’s Vodacom Cup, winning the title in 2011.
He has been Hourcade’s first-choice flyhalf throughout the coach's Pumas tenure, which began towards the end of 2013 and includes the past two Rugby Championships.
(Editing by David Goodman)
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