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in the hands of the gods interview
in the hands of the gods interview
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The road to Maradona.

What used to be called “keepie uppie” (juggling a football) has been rebranded “freestyle” and can be a lucrative profession. But for five such freestyle experts it was potentially the key to their dream: using their skills to busk their way from New York to Argentina, to meet their idol, “the godfather of freestyle”, Diego Maradona.

Their epic journey is recorded in new “fly-on-the-ball” documentary In the Hands of the Gods. The young quintet, all between 18 and 23, and neatly characterised by one trait – leader Woody, affable Danny, devout Jeremy, mouthy Mikey and brooding Sami – blagged five flights to the Big Apple, but quickly realised that “soccer” is way down the list on US Sports draws.



“I think on the plane everyone was like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna meet Diego, do that, do this, blah blah blah,’” says Danny. “Three days into it, I did not think we’d even reach Argentina, let alone meet Diego Maradona.” “It was hard to get people to dip into their pockets,” adds Jeremy. “First day we thought, fair enough we’ve had a bad day. It took about two weeks to realise it wasn’t going to be that easy.” And all this long before the Beckham effect.

Forced to rely on their freestyle skills for transport, food and accommodation, as well as being cramped together 24/7, unsurprisingly tensions among the group regularly spill over. Indeed, with the group’s diverse, fascinating back stories – Woody and Danny are failed ex-pros, Sami a Somalian refugee who took to crime in Leeds – at times it resembles a travelling Big Brother roadshow with balls.

“We’ve all just come from nothin’, really,” claims Mikey. “All from completely different backgrounds, origins, personalities. And it was just so obvious we were going to argue.” That said, the five’s unity and constant good-natured mutual ribbing during the interview is refreshing, especially for viewers of the film who saw the storm clouds gather when the group ran out of money for plane tickets and split up.

To reveal which of them, if any, realise their goal to shake Maradona’s hand – the one that punched England out of the 1986 World Cup – would be as unfair as, well, punching a team out of a football tournament. Not that the lads will hear a word against our Diego. “I thought it was brilliant. He was just cleverer,” defends Mikey. “Freestyle” obviously has a loose definition.


Leigh Singer 06 September 07
In The Hands Of The Gods, on selected release 14 September 07.
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