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Maradona keen to return as Argentina coach

Maradona compared his record to that of his peers dating back to the 1970s in an Instagram post which went viral on social media.

By Josey Samuel
Diego Maradona

Terrassa (Barcelona), November 17: Football legend Diego Maradona has criticised Argentina's recent poor run of form and asked his country's football federation to give him another crack at managing the national squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Argentina suffered a shock 2-4 defeat to Nigeria in a friendly on Tuesday (November 14) under coach Jorge Sampaoli, who took over the helm in June. Sampaoli's side have won only four of the eight games and only just qualified for the 2018 World Cup, thanks to a hat-trick from Lionel Messi in their last game against Ecuador.

Maradona took to Instagram after Argentina surrendered a 2-0 lead in Krasnodar, Russia, to lose their first match under incumbent boss Jorge Sampaoli.

Maradona compared his record to that of his peers dating back to the 1970s. ESPN FC provided a translation of the caption, written in Spanish, which read: "Who wins more?? Let's draw our conclusions, I'm mad because they give away our prestige, but the players aren't the ones to blame, I WANT TO RETURN !!!"

Maradona not only claimed it was time for former Sevilla manager Sampaoli to go, but suggested that he would be the prime candidate to replace him after comparing his winning record to Argentina's recent managers.

The 57-year-old, who is currently a consultant with United Arab Emirates' second-tie club Al Fujairah, posted statistics of 11 recent Argentina managers that showed his success rate was 75 per cent -- greater even than that of Cesar Luis Menotti, who won the World Cup in 1978, and Carlos Bilardo, who lifted the trophy in 1986 when Maradona was at his brilliant playing best. "Who won most??" Maradona wrote. "We draw our own conclusions."

Maradona took Argentina to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa by the skin of their teeth, finishing fourth in the South American qualifying group with the same number of points (28) that Sampaoli's side achieved this year.

Maradona, who earned 91 caps for Argentina as a player, led the national team between 2008 and 2010, until he was sacked following their elimination from the 2010 World Cup at the quarterfinal stage where they were humbled 0-4 by the Germans.

Story first published: Friday, November 17, 2017, 11:06 [IST]
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