Maradona, accompanied by a delegation from the Argentine Football Association, arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday morning, sparking a rowdy mobbing as police, journalists, cameramen and fans swamped him as he made his way to a waiting van, according to reports on a South Africa website.
Maradona had been sanctioned by football ruling body, FIFA, for disparaging comments made after Argentina’s last gasp qualification for the 2010 World Cup and was banned for two months.
Maradona had yelled at the media, to “suck it and just keep on sucking it.”
He was thereby banned from appearing at the draws ceremony that took place in Cape Town, South Africa in December.
Seemingly intent on not interacting with the media yesterday, Maradona - kept his head down and wore dark sunglasses. He passed swiftly through the airport to a van, where he sat behind tinted windows.
Man of the people
He could not resist the adulation by fans and he popped his head out of the window, took off his dark glasses and gave a thumbs-up sign, to huge applause. A while later the contingent pulled out of the airport, with blue lights and sirens.
Maradona is expected to visit Soccer City, which will host the opening and closing World Cup games, and the soccer school at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.
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