Diego Maradona STEPS DOWN AS COACH !

Argentina national team coach and living legend, Diego Maradona, has stepped down following a unanimous vote from the Argentine Football Association.

Initially, Diego Maradona was offered a contract keeping him as boss for the next four years. His conditions for returning included keeping all of his current staff on board, and after being unable to resolve their differences, Diego Maradona left his post as coach.

“There was a big chasm that made it impossible to find an agreement,” AFA spokesman Ernesto Cherquis said. “We will not renew the contract. For the match against Spain, scheduled for September 7, we may already have the new coach.”

A statement on the AFA website added: “The president of the Argentinean Football Association, Mr Julio Grondona, made the members of the executive committee aware of the conversation with Mr Diego Maradona, setting out the points which had come out from the meeting.

“The executive committee unanimously resolved not to renew the contract with Mr Diego Diego Maradona as coach of the Argentina national football team.”

Diego Maradona was absolutely obliterated when his beloved Argentina squad was knocked out of tournament play in the quarterfinals in a 4-0 loss to Germany. In retrospect, it was a stellar performance considering the team struggled to qualify for the tournament

soccerjones.com

Diego Maradona, Maradona, Argentina, coach, team, football, soccer, championship, World Cup,

HEINZE’S EARLY GOAL ENOUGH TO BEAT NIGERIA

Diego Maradona landed his first World Cup victory as a coach this morning after Argentina defeated Nigeria with a final score of 2-1.

Only six minutes into the match, defender Gabriel Heinze scored on a diving header, driving the ball into the top left corner of the goal. The ball played came from a corner kick that was delivered by Juan Sebastian Veron.

While Argentina controlled 58 percent of the match, they were only able to find trhe back of the net once.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi had 103 touches on the ball and completed 69 passes, which rank second-highest of all individual players so far.

“The team made good moves, but we ended up suffering. That’s the law of soccer,” Maradona said. “Thank God we won the game.

”To begin a World Cup in winning fashion gives you a certain sense of calmness. The only thing that concerns me is that we won a big game.”

While the Nigerians were unable to control Messi, it was forward Gonzalo Higuain who failed to convert on a number of scoring opportunities.

“I felt comfortable,” Messi said. “We knew that Argentina had to show its class and I think we did.”

While unsuccessful, Messi made the most of the opportunities to score that were laid before him.

“He was very close to the ball” at all times, Maradona said. “Soccer wouldn’t be beautiful without seeing Messi touch the ball.” soccerjones.com