Then tiny Tevez helps do what Brazil couldn’t

ATHENS: He is here. Hail the New King! Hail the Deliverer! Hail the New Diego Maradona!
Aw, nobody can replace Maradona. He is, what we can say with due apologies to Pele, The Greatest Entertainer. Many have come and vanished with flashes of brilliance. But Carlos Tevez has it in him to be the New Hero.
Every Argentinian in the 41,116 who braved the 10 A.M. unbearable heat to sit through the Olympic football final between South Americans Argentina and Paraguay, saw the making of the new champion. Tevez, all of 20, came out with a paisa vasool performance. The heat was no deterrent.
The only goal of the match, and a tournament-high of eight, came off the twinkle toes of Tevez who plays for Maradona’s old club, Boca Juniors. The 5ft 6 inch central striker in Marcelo Bielsa’s 3-5-3 midfield scurried in front of Paraguay goalkeeper Diego Barretto and cheekily curled the ball in off a an equally impressive Mauro Rosales (Newell Old Boys) cross.
Tevez had played in the Copa America tournament recently. Paraguay had marked him out as the dangerman. Like Maradona at the 1990 World Cup, Tevez almost pleaded to be spared of the rough tackling of the Paraguan players. His stats of the final would reveal that on most times when he was not dazzling the Paraguayans with superb skill, Tevez was on his derriere and earning free-kicks for the eventual gold medallists.
Twice in the first half, Barretto was brought in play to stop stinging shots from Tevez, who the Argentinian scribes equate to the legend of Maradona though the player is more a skilful Wayne Rooney-Michael Owen rolled into one.
The Argentines had other efforts from Cesar Delgado and Cristian Gonzalez (Internationazale). Paraguay looked for an answer to stop the onslaught. None seemed to be coming.
It was all down Parnitha (a hill near the Olympic stadium) for Paraguay in the second half. They were reduced to 10 men in the 67th minute when Emilio Martinez tried to shrug off Delgado and elbowed him. With eight minutes to go Paraguay had only nine when Diego Figueiredo did a Hand of God and was sent off for a second bookable offence.