Soccer’s Bad Boys Back Maradona, Cantona Survive Notorious Actions To Play Again

One was kicked out of the World Cup and banned for using drugs. The other was suspended for assaulting a spectator.

Yet soccer can’t wait to have Diego Maradona and Eric Cantona back - on the same weekend, no less.

Maradona, the Argentine superstar whose spectacular goals led his team to the World Cup title in 1986, returns to action Saturday for Boca Juniors after serving a 15-month drug ban.

One day later, Cantona makes his comeback with Manchester United, eight months after his infamous kung-fu attack on a taunting fan.

They are two of of the game’s most colorful and skillful players. They also have a special knack for getting into trouble.

Maradona twice has been banned for drugs and had the law chasing him for alleged involvement with prostitutes and drug dealers.

Cantona doesn’t have such a murky private life. But his disciplinary record is probably the worst of the world’s big-name players with frequent expulsions and lengthy bans in France and England.

Both players appear convinced that their star quality appeal outweighs their bad deeds on or off the field.

To soccer, their return is rather like having Mike Tyson and Darryl Strawberry making their comebacks the same weekend. That’s the impact they make and that’s why the game still wants them.

Boca Juniors, which faces the South Korean national team in Seoul, have paid Maradona some $8 million for a 2-1/2-year contract. The club knows the money will be covered by a TV mogul who will recoup it in broadcast rights. Maradona’s return means big money all around.

The inspirational star also will create sellout crowds in the 58,000-capacity Stadium La Bombonera as the Buenos Aires club bids to get back among the contenders for the national championship.

Cantona’s impact on English soccer can be gauged by what happened to Manchester United last season.

With the French striker scoring goals and terrorizing defenses with his mesmerizing footwork and passing, United won back-to-back league titles in 1993 and ‘94. The season before he moved to Old Trafford, he helped Leeds win the league title, too.

Without Cantona for almost the second half of last season, United tailed off and won nothing. With the banned Frenchman watching instead of playing, the club finished second in the league and runner-up in the FA Cup final at Wembley.

During his suspension, Cantona signed a new three-year contract with Manchester United that is reportedly worth $4.8 million.

Having already gone from heroes to villains, both stars have the chance to make peace with the game’s disciplinary powers by avoiding trouble and concentrating on scoring goals rather than making enemies.

But the pressures on both are even greater than before.

“Eric is in a high-profile situation now - every move he makes will be watched and covered,” said Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the English soccer players’ union.

“But I would imagine Manchester United have made him very much aware of that and that there are only a limited number of times when they will be able to claim mitigating circumstances for him.”

When Maradona traveled to Seoul for a nine-day visit to play for his club, he angered local fans by not sticking to his plans.

South Korea hoped Maradona’s highly publicized visit would bolster its bid to stage the 2002 World Cup.

But Maradona canceled a coaching session for children at a amusement park after they had waited 2 hours for him. And some 1,000 fans who waited in the rain for an hour at a train station were disappointed to see the maestro perform some juggling tricks for 10 minutes.

Cantona has tried to keep a low profile since his blow-up at Crystal Palace, when he vaulted over a barrier to kick and punch a spectator after receiving a red card.

The attack led to a two-week jail sentence, which was reduced on appeal to 120 hours community service, which he spent coaching schoolchildren.

Has the suspension left him a changed man?

“I play with passion and fire,” he said in a BBC radio interview. “I have to accept this fire sometimes does harm. I know it does harm. I harm myself. I’m aware of it. I’m aware of harming others. But I cannot be what I am without those other sides of my character.”

“I don’t have to justify myself,” he added. “I have no regrets. I have to correct those faults but I have to remain true to myself. That’s the problem. In the past I have tried to correct myself and lost my game.”