Maradona: I want to remain Argentina coach
Reuters - Monday 26 July 2010, 19:28
BUENOS AIRES - Diego Maradona's future as
coach of Argentina will be decided at a meeting of football
association bosses on Tuesday, a spokesman for the organisation
has said.
Maradona met the head of the Argentine Football Association
(AFA), Julio Grondona, on Monday for more than two hours to
determine whether he continue as coach following Argentina's 4-0
defeat by Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals.
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"They had a long meeting and analysed the current state of
the team and his future," AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo
said on Monday.
"A decision will be taken tomorrow. I can't say if an
agreement was reached. The president has drafted a report and
will present it to the AFA executive committee tomorrow."
Maradona told local media on Sunday he wanted to stay as
coach but only if he could keep control over the choice of his
assistants.
"I want to continue. Whether I stay will be decided in the
meeting I'll have with Grondona ... and the outcome of that will
depend on what he wants and whether he accepts what I ask of
him," Maradona told Argentine television in his first comments
to local reporters since World Cup elimination.
"Continuing means taking charge and with the people I want,"
Maradona added, alluding to media reports that the AFA would ask
him to replace some members of his coaching team.
"There's no way I'll continue as coach of the national team
if they want to take (Alejandro) Mancuso or (Hector) Enrique
away from me ... or if they want to impose someone or other on
me."
Maradona, a World Cup winner as a player in 1986, has
endured a patchy performance as coach of Argentina.
He defended his team's performance in South Africa despite
their painful exit.
"We didn't deserve to finish that way, we had done good
work," he said.
(Additional reporting by Luis Ampuero)
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