27 Jul 2010

Maradona wants to stay on with Argentina

11:54 am on 27 July 2010

Diego Maradona wants to continue as Argentina football coach - but only if he can keep his entire backroom staff.

Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona hopes the 49-year-old will sign a new four-year deal and the pair are set to meet soon.

But Grondona has criticised one of Maradona's assistants, former Argentina defender Oscar Ruggeri.

Maradona says if they touch a hair of one of his guys, even if it's the masseur or the kitman, he's going.

Argentina crashed out of the 2010 World Cup finals in the last eight as they were thrashed 4-0 by Germany, drawing criticism from some fans.

Coming on the back of their fraught qualification for the tournament in South Africa it increased the pressure on Maradona but Grondona insisted last week that he wants the 1986 World Cup winner to remain as coach.

However, the Argentina FA chief also admitted that Ruggeri had become an issue, admitting "they had lots of problems".