Diego Maradona’s brief but turbulent reign as Argentina coach has come to an end after the Argentine Football Association (AFA) elected not to renew his contract.
The soccer legend’s 18-month tenure as manager of the Albiceleste had looked in doubt following tense talks with AFA president Julio Grondona on Monday which focused on Maradona’s demands to retain his entire backroom staff.
Before that meeting Maradona, whose final game in charge was last month’s 4-0 World Cup quarter-final humiliation by Germany, had made it plain he wanted to stay as long as he could keep his staff.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I really want to stay, but it depends on Grondona,” Maradona told El Show del Futbol on America TV on the weekend after returning to Buenos Aires following a trip to visit his friend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
“If they touch a hair of one of my guys, even the masseur or the kitman, I’m going,” he said.”I want to continue the adventure, but not with [just] anyone. I chose these people. I want to continue working with them.”
One was former Argentina defender Oscar Ruggeri, the target of criticism from Grondona after Argentina’s World Cup defeat.
“I already asked and I will continue to ask that Ruggeri joins me,” Maradona had insisted. “It’s a constant struggle. This is the first thing I will discuss with Grondona.”
Media reports suggest that Grondona had vetoed that wish, triggering the end of Maradona’s 18-month spell in charge.
AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis Bialo, confirming Maradona’s departure on Tuesday, said: “The president put some salient points to Maradona in their long conversation [on Monday].”
“And the executive committee unanimously resolved not to renew Maradona’s contract as technical director of the national teams,” Bialo said.
Local media described the exit of the man who lifted Argentina to the 1986 World Cup title as the end of an era.
“It’s official — Maradona is no longer the coach of the Argentine team,” said La Nacion newspaper.
“It’s the end of a cycle,” the paper added.
Maradona’s tenure was marked by his use of more than 100 players as he grappled with various formations, a two-month ban for a foul-mouthed outburst at journalists, an eleventh-hour qualification for the World Cup and the resounding defeat to Germany.
With Maradona gone, focus has turned on the identity of his successor.
One name in the frame is Alejandro Sabella, 55, who led Estudiantes to the Copa Libertadores last year.
Other potential candidates include Miguel Angel Russo (Racing Club) and Sergio Batista, currently in charge of the Argentine under-20s and who helped steer the country to Olympic glory in the Beijing Games in 2008.
Batista has been chosen to select a squad for the Aug. 11 friendly against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
Cherquis said there is “no urgency” to find a long-term replacement.
Fans reportedly have a soft spot for Carlos Bianchi, who has enjoyed success with Velez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors, but his chances are believed to be slim due to a poor relationship with Grondona.
Argentina will host next year’s Copa America as they chase a first major trophy at senior level since 1993.
Also See: ANALYSIS : Maradona’s life remains as tumultuous as ever
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier