Diego Maradona want's job as Portuguese manager
Diego Maradona has emerged as a front runner in the potential managers to replace, Portugal's newly sacked manager Carlos Queiroz. To try and help the team qualify for the Euro 2012 group stages.
The Portuguese football federation decided to part ways with the manager, while he was serving a six month ban for failing a doping test. His successor is rumoured to be officially unveiled in the coming few days.
Maradona's last job as manager was for Argentina. He coached the team during the World Cup, but was eventually asked to leave after a mix up with the Argentinean football federation once the tournament came to a close.
The other person who could take over as the teams manger is former Sporting team coach, Paulo Bento. The manager has had far more experience when it comes to managing teams over Maradona and is currently rumoured to be the favourite to be appointed as the new Portuguese manager. Portugal can't just hire someone who has no experience with dealing with superstars. This is because the team is lined with some of the most renowned names in the world of football; one of those names is that of Cristiano Ronaldo, who also happens to be the national team’s captain.
Portugal have had a very poor start to their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. So far they have lost one match to Norway and managed to draw a game with Cyprus. Neither of those two opponents are teams that were expected to cause any trouble to the Portuguese team. Considering they have, it could mean that a change is needed to the side.
Alejandro Mancuso, who was one of the assistants that Maradona had with him during his spell with the Argentinean national side was caught saying the following during a press release:
"It's true (Maradona is interested). Diego and I talked about it and it is a project that attracts us. He is willing and has availability, but has not been contacted yet."
However Maradona can expect some tight competition from another Argentinean national. Pekerman is also rumoured to be interested in filling in the vacant spot on the Portuguese by line. According to the manager’s agent, "Many national sides wanted to hire him, but he was not interested. The Portuguese team, yes, that interests him."
Many experts believe that the team needs a manager who has a lot of experience behind him and is not just a face that would attract a lot of media attention. The team already has its fair share of players who have the media buzzing around the team like moths to a light source and hence a manager with the right kind of experience and a good track record would be the ideal choice for the team. Maradona is definitely not the man who fills all those criteria however, it is still unclear as to who would manage to land the spot and hence everyone will just have to wait and see who manages to fill in the empty spot.
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