His worst playing moment came in the '94 World Cup in the United States. He was expelled after the second game, testing positive for what FIFA called a "cocktail" of performance-enhancing drugs including ephedrine.

He was banned for 15 months, but still went home a hero.

"Maradona has done things that average people would love to do _ go out with gorgeous women or beat the English at their own game," explained Argentine Sergio Levinsky, a sociologist who has written a book entitled "Maradona: Rebel with a Cause."

"Why is winning at football so important in Argentina? Because the average Argentine loses 5-0 in everyday life. But winning 1-0 in a soccer game is revenge for a least one minute. People live Maradona's achievements and failures as if they were their own."

Brazil has Pele, a wealthy businessman who travels the world as a soccer ambassador. Germany has Franz Beckenbauer, a soccer commentator and the head of Germany's World Cup organizing committee.

Argentina has Maradona, who always seems to be tweaking authority.

He openly criticized the late Pope John Paul II, ripped into U.S. President George W. Bush on his recent visit to Argentina, and has been a harsh critic of FIFA.

In Italy earlier this month, Italian tax police confiscated two Rolex watches _ he was wearing one on each wrist _ to chip away at a $38.5 million (euro30.6 million) unpaid tax bill. Together, the watches were worth about $13,000 (euro10,000).

"We are all Maradona's in a sense," said Alejandro Apo of Radio Continental, one of Argentine's most respected radio voices. "He represents us. We have demanded so much of him, and we have examined every aspect of his life. He is the best and worst of us.

"He does and says things that transcend soccer, and what he says has weight because of the force of soccer in Argentina's popular culture. When he chooses a rival, he chooses the biggest, the most powerful. He did the same thing on the playing field."