MARADONA: "MASCHERANO will be my captain"

I will comment on the list and other things in due time.

What I want here is to give you the translation of the most important part of the press conference held just a few minutes ago at Ezeiza's AFA headquarters.

Julio GRONDONA opened up saying:

"Today is a day of great joy for me. Because I'm presenting two people that were with me during most of my 30 years as AFA president. Today, 4 November, is a day with another special meaning for me because my mother is turning 102 years old. And I'm sure she is watching this at home!"

"During the last few years, our national team have been lacking of those final 10 cents to make a full peso (Argentina currency). I'm hoping Diego MARADONA and Carlos BILARDO will help us get there."

The following is a summary of Diego MARADONA's best quotes as he got announced as Argentina national team manager.

"This is a dream come true for me and an honour to be with Carlos BILARDO on my side."

"I'll do my best for things to work out for the best for us."

"We are sure that we will wake up every morning and we will give the selección what it deserves and to make our national team better everyday."

"I want to thank Claudia (his ex-wife), my daughters and Vero (his girlfriend)"

"We still haven't decide how our coaching staff will look like. We know that BATISTA and BROWN are at our disposal and that is a great thing. But today we are here to announce the list of players to face Scotland and we will build a strong coaching staff in time."

"We are heading for Europe tonight. We will watch Real Madrid v. Juventus in Madrid to see some players in action and then we will talk to them."

"We will then tour around Europe to talk to as many players we can. We want them to know what we think and we want to see how they are and what they think."

"This dream has to continue with hard-work. If I stand here doing nothing, I won't be doing any good to our national team, but when I enter this place (AFA's Ezeiza training ground), my chest gets wide. It's the same feeling I had when I was a player".

"I think MASCHERANO is the Argentine players that embodies the most all the qualities of a great Argentina captain. I'm going to talk to him and convince him. He will be my captain."

"MESSI is not on our list because there is an agreement with FC Barcelona and Mr. LAPORTA was a true gentleman when he let MESSI play in the Olympics."

Then BILARDO said:

"I don't know if this is the right thing to say, but to me...the national team comes first. My family comes second. My wife knows it so I don't think she'll get mad at me. At least I hope!".