Maradona Fired

Diego Maradona has been fired as coach of Argentina. The highly talented side exited the World Cup aafter a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Germany in the Wortld Cup and his departure looked inevitable. But he hung on and eventually the Argentinian Football Association (AFA) was forced to act. On Monday Maradona met with AFA president Julio Grondona. He had indicated that he wished to stay on in the role, but he rejected demands to change his backroom team and Maradona’s loyalty cost him his position. It was well known that Grondona had issues with one of Maradona’s assistants, former Argentina defender Oscar Ruggeri.

Sergio Batista who had been coaching the Under 20 side has taken over temporarily, but no candidates to take over permanently have been identified. The BBC reports that Estudiantes coach Alejandro Sabella, who was Daniel Passarella’s assistant at the 1998 World Cup, Racing Club boss Miguel Angel Rosso and Batista are all in the frame, but Grondona was in no hurry.

Grondona told local media:

“It is difficult to agree. The hardest difference to agree on was changing some of Diego’s staff. There was no evaluation, no review, no conclusions. These are the things you have to think about in order to think about the future. We have time to choose the technical staff,” he said. “We have not thought about anybody yet. Batista is a member of the staff of this body so he will obviously fill the place as long as is needed.”

AFA General Secretary Jose Luis Meiszner was keen to explain with a certain degree of unnecessary pedantry that Maradona had not actually been sacked. He told local able channel C5N:

“Nobody has been sacked. A contract has not been extended because the conditions were not suitable. When you cannot agree with somebody you love, you are not happy at all. I always want to talk to him [Maradona], but sometimes it is difficult because this is not the best moment. I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t admit there was a general disliking of several aspects of the cycle that ended with the World Cup. We did not see any intention to show humility, to say that things should have been done better. There was no evaluation, no review, no conclusions. These are the things you have to think about in order to think about the future.”

Before the two-hour meeting on Monday, Grondona had stated he was hopeful Maradona would be flexible and accept the changes necessary to convince the AFA to sign him on a renewed four year deal. But flexibilty is not a character trait for which Maradona has become known. He declared he would refuse to renew his contract if the AFA dismissed even one of his staff.

“If they touch a hair of one of my guys, even if it’s the masseur or the kitman, I’m going,” he told El Show del Futbol on America TV.

Grondona had already made his desire for the removal of Ruggeri and Alejandro Mancuso known so the collision was foreseen by many.

Argentina’s next match is a friendly at the newly developed Landsdowne Road against the Irish Republic in Dublin.

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