Sunil Gulati was about to realize what is, short of flying, perhaps humankind's most universally shared fantasy: He was about to play soccer with Diego Maradona.
This was in January, and the 57-year-old president of the United States Soccer Federation and member of FIFA's executive committee was preparing to travel to Zurich to take part in a boondoggle exhibition match with the FIFA Legends program. He and the other suits who run world soccer would team with the former Argentine superstar, Gabriel Batistuta, Carles Puyol, and others for a kick-about.
There was just one problem: Gulati didn't have any boots.