The former captain Diego Maradona will be now the new coach of the Argentina team. He was appointed as the new soccer coach on Tuesday. He had earlier lead the team to World Cup victory in 1986. The 48-year-old Maradona’s first game in charge will be a friendly against Scotland which will be held on Nov. 19 at Glasgow.
Diego Maradona calls this an honour. He assures excellent efforts to make the team outshine the rest of the teams in the soccer field. Maradona promises better days for the Argentina national team. Even though Maradona remains as a national hero, his appointment has raised eyebrows of many.

The decision has been questioned by local media and fans since its announcement in last week. Many soccer loves are concerned about his abilities to transform the playing skills into coaching expertise, and are wary of the star’s past troubles with drugs and obesity.

Maradona was flanked at a news conference by new Argentina manager Carlos Bilardo and Julio Grondona, the head of the Argentine federation.

Grondona brushed aside criticism saying that they are confident of MAradona’s ability and capacity. He says that MAradona would be able to reap better results as a coach. Maradona is replacing Alfio Basile, who stepped down on Oct. 16 after the 1-0 loss to Chile in World Cup qualifying.

Maradona has already made his first decision as the coach. He have replaced Javier Zanetti as captain with Javier Mascherano. He feels Mascherano is the “best suited player” as he brings together the necessary characteristics of “thinking, sacrifice, professional, being attentive to team mates.”

But anyhow, Maradona’s coaching team is in limbo. It seems that Sergio Batista and Jose Luis Brown, Maradona’s team mates in Argentina’s 1986 World Cup champion side, will be his assistants. It would be know in a few weeks that if Maradona is able to perform the same magic as coach like the one he showed on fields in mid eighties.

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