If there is one man who can be trusted to remedy the current crisis racking Argentine football, it has to be Diego Armando Maradona, and it is him who is being linked to the Argentina coaching job one day after the resignation of Tata Martino and his entire technical coaching staff.
There have been rampant and extremely sad reports of the AFA being badly mismanaged and corrupt, and it is thought by many that this is one of the major reasons why Lionel Messi indicated after the recent Copa America elimination that he had played his last match in national colours. The exodus of players and coaches after Messi’s decision is being pinned on the sorry state of Argentine football administration.
Two other reasons which have been cited for Tata Martino’s resignation is that he had not been paid for seven months and that he did not even have eleven players available to him to start the Rio Olympics preparatory camp. Following the resignation, AFA officials said there was a high chance that a national team will not be sent at all to the 2016 Olympics.
In the middle of this chaos, the worst in the country’s recent history, Maradona has indicated on Facebook that he is taking an active step to sort things out. How active an role he shall have is not clear yet, but Argentina fans have been quick to jump to the conclusion that the 2010 World Cup coach could be back in his familiar position in the Albiceleste dugout.
He said that he was meeting with Primo Corvaro, head of a team of FIFA inspectors, at the AFA on Wednesday, to work out how the national team’s organisation is to be overhauled. He also said that he has high hopes from this meeting, and that Argentina missing out on the Olympics would be a catastrophic eventuality.
Argentina’s 2002 World Cup coach Marcelo Bielsa was being heavily linked to the job before he signed with Lazio. Diego Simeone is also another name doing the rounds. Jorge Sampaoli has also been named in thw Argentine media. For now, women's team coach Julio Olarticoechea has been named to take charge of the men’s Olympics team in August by virtue of him being the only remaining Argentine national coach on contract after the exit of Martino’s entire team.
There is a lot of work required for Argentina to get out of the mire that they currently find themselves in, and the heart shown by Maradona when dribbling through forests of legs in his playing days and while pacing the sidelines in his shorter coaching career might just prove that he is the man who is the perfect fit for the job.
Translation – “Tomorrow, Wednesday I'm going to the A.F.A. to meet Primo Corvaro, overseer of the F.I.F.A. I have a lot of dreams about this meeting. I cannot believe our participation in the Olympics is in doubt, because we are a footballing power. I hope that a time of peace and progress shall come.”
