Maradona to coach soccer club in Mexico’s cartel heartland

CULIACAN, Mexico – Diego Maradona, whose public battles with cocaine made him soccer’s poster child for the perils of substance abuse, is setting up camp in Mexico’s drug cartel heartland as the new coach of a second-tier team.

Draped in official club gear, the Argentine soccer legend arrived this weekend in Culiacan, home turf of the Sinaloa Cartel, to take over the bottom-dwelling Dorados in what some describe as a publicity stunt for the team and a last-ditch effort to resurrect a career marred by drugs and antics.

Tom Marshall, who covers Mexican soccer for ESPN sports network, said the question floating among fans is whether the Maradona hire is part of a long-term plan to raise the prospects of the Dorados or an “ego trip” for the club’s owners?