He bounces up and down on the touchline with that silver beard and bottle-black hair, looking like the product of an illicit union between Eric Cantona and a Tasmanian Devil. Wild-eyed with rage and waving imaginary cards in one moment, kissing and hugging his players in happy tears the next, the madness of Diego Maradona is there for all to see. When a player is fouled, he snorts along the touchline, arms flailing. If a chance is missed, he pulls his own hair in frustration. He sifts rosary beads through his fingers and punches the air repeatedly in delight. Watching the extraordinary performance, it’s difficult to avoid the thought that the fourth official might be better off putting down the numbers board and grabbing tranquilisers and a straitjacket instead. But there’s no taking your eyes off him. And the craziest thing of all is that it actually seems to be working. Maradona’s madcap antics are cajoling the best out of his side, with Argentina materialising as arguably the most exciting prospect of the tournament, playing an uninhibited game that sparkles as brightly as their coach’s diamond earrings. Few genuinely expected it to be this way, even back in his South American homeland. Not after Maradona used 80 players in his first year or presided over a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Bolivia, Argentina’s worst result in 60 years. When he scraped through the qualifying campaign with a victory against Uruguay in the last game, a newspaper poll still found 80 per cent of voters wanted him sacked. The few brave enough to suggest Argentina might be winners in South Africa always added the asterisk that this team would succeed in spite of their coach, not because of him. It was a logical assumption. Maradona’s selection strategy was described as unhinged when he left Inter Milan’s Champions League-winning duo, Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso, out of the squad. His tactics seemed plucked from the asylum when he elected to use four central defenders and no regular full backs. And his relationship with the brilliant Lionel Messi was supposedly tainted by a jealousy the young star might eclipse his own playing achievements. If the country’s most talented collection of players in two decades failed, it would be because of El Diego. That may yet come to pass. There is a fine line between genius and insanity and Maradona has always had one foot planted either side of that divide. The two conflicting sides of that personality were evident in that infamous 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England. First, there was the cynical deception of his opening goal, which he famously called the ‘Hand of God’. Then there was the awe-inspiring slalom run to score the unforgettable second, which remains the best solo strike in World Cup history.