Guido Buchwald
Guido Buchwald (born January 24, 1961) is a former German soccer defender.He is currently the manager of Japanese team Urawa Red Diamonds.
The best game of his career was probably the final of the World Cup in 1990 when he effectively stopped the arguably best soccer player at the time, Diego Maradona, earning him the nickname 'Diego'.
Buchwald began his professional soccer career in 1983 with VfB Stuttgart. He played 325 games in the German Bundesliga for this club, scoring 28 goals. The low-point of his career was in 1986 when coach Franz Beckenbauer did not include him in his team for the World Cup in Mexico. The same year Stuttgart lost the final of the German Cup against FC Bayern München and in 1989 the final of the UEFA Cup was also lost, but they managed to win two German championships (1984, 1992). In 1994 he signed with the Japanese team Urawa Red Diamonds before returning to Germany in 1998 to help the Karlsruhe SC avoid relegation. He could not save the team and after one more season playing in the second division he retired but stayed with the club as a manager. After a stop with the Stuttgarter Kickers he went back to Japan where he is currently (2004) coaching his old club.
He has become somewhat of a cult figure in Urawa and has recently lead his team to the 'closing' championship.
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