5) Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona, considered to be one of the greatest players to have ever played for Argentina had won the World Cup for his nation almost single-handedly. That is how influential the player was for his team.
He had the power and skill to overpower any defence in the world and there was no stopping the man from Argentina. He represented Argentina in the 1979 Copa America, but Argentina finished last in the group, with Maradona scoring only once.
Maradona was injured in the 1983 Copa America, where they had another dismal campaign getting knocked out at the group stages. Argentina had a good start to the 1987 Copa America as they topped their group, but fell to eventual champions Uruguay in the semi-finals. The God of Napoli ended the competition with three goals to his name.
Argentina had a blistering start to their 1989 Copa America campaign as they won the group that also had powerhouse Uruguay. Their success, however, was short lived as Argentina could not win the final round, which was won by Brazil.
Failure to keep his off-field activities in check led to him being banned from the 1991 Copa America as Maradona failed a drug test. Argentina went on to win the Copa America in his absence. The following Copa America, Maradona withdrew from the Argentina squad after having a dispute with his team.
That year too, Argentina went on to win the Copa. This shows what Maradona’s career could have been, as he would have the complete set of trophies with his national team.
