Maradona in Mexico

The concept of “If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain", when the junkie Diego, a coach who is being made fun of, goes right into the heart of the Sinaloa drug cartel to train a team that was formed in the new millennium, was soon driven to the top by drug money, and then gradually fell to the current state of a dysfunctional team on the verge of competing for a place in the second league. It's a pure publicity stunt from the Dorados de Sinaloa team management. And it not only works, but more surprisingly, against all logic, it also works from a sports point of view. So, the concept is from the realm of dreams. The problem is its execution. From a running time of less than four it is not at all clear what the goal was. Whether it was to get a behind-the-scenes look at the club or at Diego. But neither works. It is definitely not the equivalent of the view into a football club à la Sunderland, All or Nothing, Inside Borussia Dortmund, etc. At the same time, however, it is not about Diego, who, apart from the first episode, does not let the crew get too close. Although he is on the screen all the time, it is only during training sessions (where he is not acting as a coach), pre-match meetings (where he does not discuss any tactics) and matches (where he grossly scolds referees). Nothing in between. He serves as a good luck charm who just says a few words about passion and hunger for winning, and all the hard work is done by his assistant. He is not asked any questions, the camera just runs, which he is well aware of, so he entertains everyone, flirts and swears. Which is enough for the series to be enjoyable to watch, because Diego is just Diego and he is simply fascinating, but it's not enough for anything else. In the end, it whole thing holds together because Diego is entertaining and thanks to the unlikely coincidence that the team under his “leadership" turned itself around and started writing a football fairy tale. At the end of the day, the mariachi theme song is by far the best part. (15/04/2020)